#see February has less than January because its a shorter month

[roomwithanopenfire]

calculated my word count totals for writing for the month of April and this is the bad thing about spending the whole month editing...

and over half of those words were written yesterday 😭

[theultimatenonbinarynerd]

February 2024 Reading Wrap Up

The Calendar

Unfortunately I sadly had to break my 405 reading streak as I have been terribly ill with presumably the 100 day cough. I was just too tired and ill to do anything. I'm on the mend but unfortunately February's reading ended on a low because of this.

Finally finished Will which was such a relief. I was worried it was gonna clog up February but thanks to a unexpected a + e trip I luckily got to finish it quicker. Its a very good memoir but it tried to balance being a self help and account of Will Smiths life and as a result made it very overwhelming. Might Reread this again in the future but we shall see.

Still as of this post Reading through Black Spire but I hope I'll be able to finish it in March, we shall see. Its not a perfect story and really confusing without reading Phasma but still pretty decent especially on the world building. Fazbear Frights 4 is easily the best novel out of the bunch I have read. It focuses on the themes of Family and Fixing Past Mistakes but still expands and keeps to the og lore. Coming Home is the best out of the three short stories.

Man so far I'm loving the 8th Doctor Adventures and agree it was absolutely necessary to jump into Big Finish through this series due to the similar style to New Who. I hope the 2 hour stories are as good. Just purchased Dark Eyes 1 and Out Of Time 1 this month and excited to build up an exciting Big Finish catalogue to listen too. Horror Of Glamrock was a very unique and interesting story as well as incoperating rock music in a fun way. It makes me excited to see what other fun new ideas Big Finish have done with their stories. Miss Bernard Cribbins and it was nice to hear him on audio again. Immortal Beloved used Greek Mythology in a fun way and is definitely one of the best Big Finish audios I have listened to so far. It debated the ethics of cloning and appealed to older Whovians in a brilliant way. Paul MacGann was excellent in this and I feel like this audio allowed him to really develop the complexity of his character. No matter the audio length I vow to devour Big Finish in one day.

I think that this month was so crammed full of books due to how many shorter 200+ books I read. It took about 7 days too read the incredible Doctor Who novel, The Way Through The Woods and Different Not Less, 12. Both absolutely fantastic like I mentioned. I knew Different Not Less would hit hard but I didn't realise just how hard.

Overall a good reading calender that will hopefully improve in March now that I'm feeling a lot better.

February's Stats

Looks so much better than my January Stats layout that I did. Credits to LeeBee Reads as her templates are so much better for showing off Storygraph Stats. Wish I'd shrunk things down a bit but apart from that all good. With that being said let's break down the Stats from left to right.

So in February I read and listened to in total 6 books. 4 Books and Two Audio Dramas. Pages wise I managed to read 1,123 which is 168 pages up from February 2023. An absolute huge improvement which I'm proud of myself for. Then I listened to 2.27 hours between both Big Finish Stories I delved into. Nevermind 2023, February compared to January this year was alot better despite falling off at the end. I'm excited to see what March will bring me in terms of pages and listening hours.

In terms of Genre, Science Fiction absolutely devoured once again but that can be expected considering how much Big Finish I've been listening too. Whilst Young Adult dominated last year, I definitely think Science Fiction is gonna be the winning genre of 2024. In second place was of course Memoir as I managed to finish Will and Different Not Less. Two very informative and life changing memoirs. But with Science Fiction, Memoir, Video Games, Young Adult, Self Help And Horror. February sure was an interesting month when it came to genres.

My profile has not changed much at all. As much as I have started to branch out and look at more Non-Fiction Recs unfortunately my profile will remain mainly reads Fiction. Like I've tracked and compared to Fiction I only have 80 Non-Fiction on it so yeah. My most popular moods are Adventurous, Dark and Mysterious which is again definitely not changing anytime soon but we shall see. I definitely need to balance my Dark and Lighthearted moods better as much as I would love to claw into exclusively dark books. And again I will try to get myself into longer and more faster paced or slow paced books but unlikely to change.

Onto moods, no second place this time as three moods impressively decided to tie. Those moods were as followed; Mysterious, Informative And Funny. Not suprised there as literally most of my reading in February was mutiple genres and types. Ignoring my audio listens it was literally half and half between fiction and nonfiction material so I'm not shocked at their being no winning mood this time round. Will definitely not be the case in March though I'm sure of it.

Finally we have Star Ratings. Thankfully no books went below 3 stars as wether it due to enjoyment or of a good quality nothing this month had mostly slaps. Three Five Stars in one month is very impressive, than again Last Year was the same when I got to experience the wonderful Loveless and Leia Princess Of Alderaan back to back. February tends to be a good month for me which is a huge trend I've noticed. A 4.58 average rating is really good and makes me excited for what March might bring.

Good stats and a fabulous template to use.

Finished February Reads/Listens

Again I can't help find myself smirking at the fact that the month with more books read and listened to is the shortest month of the year.

February was really good and I'm hoping it only gets better from here. Will was a really good memoir and whilst I don't agree with his political views 🍉, I do recommend borrowing this from the library as it has a lot of valuable life lessons and lots of Will Smiths character. Probably gonna borrow it off my brother again in the far future. Just to see how I feel about it with a reread.

I'll include them together but I'm absolutely in love with what Big Finish has to offer and have a future wishlist ready for when my wallet can afford it. Horror Of Glamrock and Immortal Beloved were very entertaining and creative stories that I've never really seen Doctor Who do before. I'm very much going to dive more into the format and might even try some of the BBC audio novels. I've also gone to really care about the 8th Doctor and Paul MacGanns portyal. Gonna try get some reviews out soon and highlight more of the ones that are avaliable for free on Spotify.

From Audio to Physical. I finally managed to pick up my first 11th Doctor adventure and it was absolutely fabulous. The Way Through The Woods is such a well built up mystery that pays off super well and doesn't go too out there. Una McCormack knows how to write Amy, Rory And The Doctor and they all get their moments to shine. It was also super fun and wild and the location was perfectly eerie. Absolutely worthy of five stars and one novel I'd highly recommend to other whovians. Up next for Doctor Who books I'll be re-reading Prisoner Of The Daleks and exploring the 9th Doctor adventure The Deviant Strain.

Different Not Less is another amazing memoir that hugely hit hard and deep. As a newly diagnosed Autistic person back in March 2023, I knew that this was absolutely one of the first books that I had to pick up. Hearing Chloés story really gave me a lot of comfort and hope I didn't know I need. She also perfectly balances out her two reader audiences of Neurotypical readers wanting to learn and Neurodivergent people wanting to understand there self. Fabulous book that I will be rereading without a doubt in the future. Completely recommend this wether Neurotypical or Neurodivergent.

Fazbear Frights: Step Closer, was absolutely the best out of the four books I read. It still had a lot of faults don't get me wrong but it was so much better than the other three. If the Epilogues didn't exist this is the one I'd recommend out of all of them. Coming Home was the best out of the three stories in the book, it made me super emotional and I almost cried. It had a twist I was not expecting and incoperated some of the og lore in such a brilliant way. I'm honestly happy to end there as I am not willing to force myself through all Twelve of these when not all the stories are good. Eventually I plan to read the first few Tales books and we'll have to see what they are like in comparisant.

Conclusion

Overall a very fun reading month jam-packed with absolutely fabulous content that I'd recommend. I'm excited to see how March will compare and what it will bring.

If you want to check out my full reviews of all of these books mentioned you can find me on Storygraph and Good Reads.

Storygraph: melsage1823

Good Reads: Melody Soundy

That's it for now, I'll pop back in April for an update about March.

-Melody-

They/Them

[magicklee]

Monthly Magick

🐺JANUARY🐺

January is a name for the Roman God Janus, who had 2 faces, 1 looking behind him and 1 looking forward. Because of this, he is often connected with prophecy and the future, in addition to awareness of the past. Finally, he was sometimes invoked for protection at the beginning of a new journey. Spellwork focuses primarily on new beginnings. This is, after all, the start of a brand new year, when you get to shed the baggage of the past and welcome the new adventures that lie before you. You may not even be certain where your journeys will take you, but just knowing that you're about to move forward is often empowering. This is a month of transformation and change. The decisions you make in January may well carry you through the rest of the year.

❤FEBRUARY❤

February is, for many of us, a fallow time. It's the month when we tap into our creative juices, begin to set some personal boundaries, and start turning our thoughts toward love. Focus on the development of self-love, as well as attracting the right kinds of people into our lives - those who bring us joy and make our hearts sing. In many magical traditions, this month kicks off with Candlemas or Imbolc, which is a harbinger of the coming spring. Even though we're still seeing cold and snowy days, beneath the surface of the earth new life is preparing to come forth. While many things, both physical and spiritual, may be lying dormant in February, plans and preparation made now will set the tone for your life in the months to come.

🌩MARCH🌩

The month of March is named for the Warrior God Mars. It's a time of stormy energy and wild weather, and we begin to see new life returning as the spring season arrives. Focus on rebirth and renewal, as well as strength and the ability to conquer our challenges. For some modern magical traditions, this is the season of Ostara, the spring equinox. It's a time of balance, with equal hours of light and darkness. This is a good month to plant seeds - both physical and spiritual - so later in the year your life will be full of abundance.

🌷APRIL🌷

Remember all that stormy, cold, wet weather we had in March? Now is when we start to see it pay off. As April arrives, the days get brighter, and flowers and trees are beginning to bloom. Like March, this month is associated with planting. It's also a time when the fertility of the land begins to emerge - fields are being plowed for spring planting, fresh wet soil is tilled, and animals are birthing their young. Because April is positioned at a point between the cold months and the warmer ones, as well as its connection to earth and water, in some magical traditions this is a month of in-betweens. In particular, it's sometimes seen as bridging that magical space between the heavens and the land. Spellwork often focuses on spiritual development and decision-making, in addition to getting back in touch with your own intuitive processes.

🌼MAY🌼

May is a season of fertility and new life - in fact, the month kicks off with Beltane, a fertility festival represented by the Maypole. This is the season in which the ground begins to warm, and the fresh earth opens up to receive the seeds for the years crops. It's a time of strong masculine energy in many magical traditions, flowers are in bloom, and the dormant vegetation of last year is coming back to life. This month is a reminder that the warm, sunny weeks of summer are just around the corner. Spellwork, in many magical traditions, is geared toward fire, fertility, and raw power.

☀️JUNE☀️

By June, much of springs rain and unpredictable weather has drawn to an end. It's when the days get warmer and our gardens begin to bloom in earnest, and its also the season of the summer solstice. This is a time of powerful sun energy, and we can celebrate the magic of warm days and long hours of light. At this time of year weddings and love go into higher gear, flowers are abundant, herbs poo up everywhere, and the trees are full of fruit and leaves. Spellwork focuses on all the magical sun power that makes things grow and flourish, from our garden to our hearts and our spirit.

🌊JULY🌊

July is when things really begin to heat up. The sun is blazing overhead, the days are bright and clear, and its a perfect month to be outside working in your garden, splashing in the pool, or just basking in the rays. It's also a time associated with power and control, which is no surprise, seeing as this month was named for Julius Caesar. If you've thought about exercising your leadership skills and taking charge, July is the month for you. Many spells focus on empowerment, personal strength, victory, and making progress in all the different aspects of your life. Whether it's personal or professional, this could be the month where magic helps you get ahead and find the success you've been seeking.

🌾AUGUST🌾

August is when the dog days of summer finally roll in. It's hot - sometimes too hot to enjoy the outdoors - but it's also the season of the early grain harvest. Wheat is being threshed in the fields, corn is ripening on its stalks, and agricultural communities are preparing for the livestock season. It's a time of year in which can place magical emphasis on harmony and balance, peacefulness, and calm. Now is the month to begin baking bread, honing your skills, and thinking about the coming winter, even though it's still a few months away. Spellwork continues the seasonal theme, and involves the various aspects of the looming harvest season, as well as protection of house and home and self-development.

🍁SEPTEMBER🍁

September is known as the harvest season in many areas. Crops and fields are overflowing, orchards are full with abundance, nuts are dropping from the trees, and even our home gardens are providing us with delicious harvest foods. However, along with the harvest comes the knowledge that the earth is slowly dying, and that soon the chilly nights will return. The evenings are cool and crisp with the smell of burning leaves upon the air, and it's the season of the autumn equinox. This period of equal hours of darkness and light is a time of balance. September's spellwork focuses on that harmony, along with the symbolism of the fall harvest.

🎃OCTOBER🎃

October is when we really begin to notice how cool and dark the nights are getting. As the days grow shorter, many people believe the boundary between the mortal world and the spirit realm becomes thinner. In some magical traditions, it's the season of Samhain, the witches new year. This is also the season when the fields and land go dormant and empty, an end to the annual agricultural cycle. We clean up our gardens so they can winter over, knowing that in spring the endless loop of life, death, and rebirth will begin anew. This time of year, you may notice things going bump in the night, or feel like you're not completely alone when you're sure you're the only person in the room. Spellwork emphasizes working with the spirit world, divination, and communicating with our long departed ancestors. It's a month of transition and change, both in the worldly plane and the metaphysical one.

🍂NOVEMBER🍂

In November, the old year is beginning to wind down. The harvest has ended, the nights are getting longer, and there's a chill in the air to remind us that winter will be here before we know it. This is also the season in which we start thinking about friends and family, the notions of gratitude and gift giving, and compassion toward those less fortunate than ourselves. Spellwork emphasizes developing our creativity, showing devotion and dedication, and thinking about others. Many of us use this month to consider our connection to the divine, as well as to focus on what inspires us. This is a good time of year to be thankful for what we have, and sometimes to appreciate what we don't.

❄DECEMBER❄

The month of December can be magical indeed! Winter is looming on the horizon, and its a time to reconnect with family, friends, and loved ones. The winter holidays can bring out the best in people, and this season is marked by a number of celebrations, many of which emphasize candles, light, and change. It's also the season of Yule, the winter solstice, which marks the longest night of the year, and the point at which the sun begins its long journey back toward the earth. Magical workings include a focus on spiritual alchemy, charity, peace, and wisdom. It's also the season in which we wrap up the old year, getting ready for a new one to begin, by shedding old habits and baggage, clearing out our metaphysical closets, and embracing the magic of giving.

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Credit | The Good Witch's Daily Spellbook | Patti Wigington

[thehanniecorner]

Yes, I realize that this post is coming out nowhere near January, but I have been finding it difficult to keep up with blogging lately, so it is what it is, right?  Hopefully, things have calmed down enough in my life that I can get back to writing semi-regularly, but no promises yet!  Regardless, I read a lot in January and am eager to share my thoughts with you.  Let’s get started!

I hope this reaches her in time – r.h. Sin

Rating – 1 Star

Unfortunately, I started off my year with what may turn out to be my least favorite title of 2020.  I hope this reaches her in time is a poetry collection, and while I like to pick up poetry once in a while, I didn’t connect with this collection at all.  First of all, it felt like there should have been a little more editing, as I found a number of sentences and word choices that I think might have just been typos.  Beyond that, the poetry itself reminded me of the “Tumblr style” where poets just break a normal sentence into multiple lines to make the words feel deeper than they really are, which is not a style I enjoy at all.  The good news is, however, that my reading can only get better from here, right?

Emergency Skin – N.K. Jemisin

Rating – 5 Stars

After reading an incredibly underwhelming title, I decided to give N.K. Jemisin’s Emergency Skin from Amazon’s Forward collection a try, figuring that an author this popular couldn’t possibly let me down.  Thankfully, my instincts were right and I loved this short story so much.  Given how short this experience is, I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that this is a phenomenal science fiction story with the best usage of second person narration that I have ever seen in literature.  This was my first title by Jemisin and I can’t wait to read more of her work in the future.

Randomize – Andy Weir

Rating – 3 Stars

Since I loved Emergency Skin so much, I wanted to give another short story from the same collection a try, which led me to Andy Weir’s Randomize.  This wasn’t bad at all, but I didn’t love it to nearly the same degree as Jemisin’s work.  The hardest part for me is that the central premise, involving the security of gambling machines and whether they can be hacked or not, felt both flimsy and info-dumping in its setup.  The ending was pretty satisfying and I had fun reading this, but I came away from the story feeling like not enough had really been done with the universe.  I’m hoping to get to more of the Forward short story collection a try in the coming months, so I hope I enjoy the others more than I enjoyed this one.

Interview with the Robot – Lee Bacon

Rating – 4 Stars

I decided to pick up an Audible subscription recently in order to read more audiobooks, and Interview with the Robot was one of the Audible Original productions available one month, so I decided to pick it up.  This short audiobook with a full cast follows a robot who looks like a young child.  She gets apprehended by the police and has to tell her strange life story to a social worker in charge of her case.

While listening to this story, I had a smile on my face from beginning to end because it was just so charming and adorable.  That said, however, there were a few pretty good twists and turns that I didn’t see coming and definitely made me feel a lot of empathy towards the protagonist.  Overall, my main complaint is that it was just too short, at around three hours of listening.  I want more from this world in the future, so I hope some sort of sequel comes out eventually.

The Last Wish – Andrzej Sapkowski

Rating – 3 Stars

2020 is the year that I work my way into adult fantasy, and other than reading Game of Thrones last year, reading The Last Wish is one of the first titles that I have ever picked up in the genre.  This series follows Geralt, a witcher, which is a type of mutated human that fights monsters, as well as the many people that surround him.  This specific book is a short story collection that follows, for the most part, Geralt as he goes from contract to contract, killing monsters.

I love the lore and world of the Witcher universe, but I’m not totally convinced that I appreciate the writing style.  It’s hard to tell if this is because of the translation or this is the intention of the original author, but there was a lot of distance between the narrator and the events happening, which made me feel disconnected from the story.  I still intend to continue on, especially after I completely fell in love with the TV series, so I hope that I will connect more with future books and get used to the writing style.

The Outsider – Stephen King

Rating – 4 Stars

Stephen King is an author that I should read way more than I do, because I only pick up one or two of his books in a year, but I almost always enjoy them.  As it turns out, The Outsider is no exception.  This horror novel follows a group of detectives as they investigate the death of a young boy in a small town.  The obvious suspect is the town’s little league coach, as the evidence is quickly mounting up against him.  As the case opens up, however, conflicting details emerge and the truth becomes more difficult to grasp.

Overall, I really enjoyed the mystery and couldn’t stop reading for the entirety of this 600-page tome.  Stephen King has a way of making long books feel like they go by in an instant.  Unsurprisingly, however, the ending was incredibly underwhelming.  Additionally, The Outsider is connected to the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, which I didn’t know, and I got pretty spoiled for the events of that series, which is unfortunate.  On top of all of this, I would like to take a moment and point out that the graphic depictions of the child’s death did not really need to be so detailed, much less have those horrific details brought up at least a dozen more times over the course of the book.  It just felt gratuitous after a while.  I enjoyed this book immensely, but the details I mentioned above kept it just barely out of five-star territory.

Every Heart a Doorway – Seanan McGuire

Rating – 4 Stars

Since The Outsider was quite a lengthy read, I wanted to pick up some shorter titles again, leading me to finally pick up the start to a fantasy series that has been on my radar for a long time:  Every Heart a Doorway.  This series follows a group of children that found doorways to their own personal versions of Narnia and Wonderland.  At some point, however, their newfound homes kicked them back into the normal world and they have to learn how to cope with returning to their own life.  A halfway home of sorts was founded for children struggling with this task, and as it turns out, bringing a bunch of children together who have all gone to vastly different worlds can cause some pretty crazy antics and disagreements.

I love the characters, but didn’t find the plot of this overly engaging.  Given that my rating is still high, it’s clear that my disinterest in the plot wasn’t a deal-breaker by any means, but I just struggled to stay interested, especially given that I guessed the big plot twist almost immediately.  Since these books are so short, I will definitely be reading the sequels.  In fact, given how late this wrap-up is, I can say with great certainty that my February wrap-up will have a lot of news regarding my progress on this series.

Outer Order, Inner Calm – Gretchen Rubin

Rating – 3 Stars

I like to try reading books that push me out of my comfort zone, and it has been a long time since I read anything that might be considered a part of the self-improvement genre.  Therefore, as a chronically messy person, I thought reading Outer Order, Inner Calm might be an interesting adventure, given that the whole book is dedicated to getting rid of unwanted junk to keep life peaceful.

This was an incredibly easy read.  The writing style was simple and easy to digest.  Reading it was actually a pretty pleasant and relaxing experience.  That said, however, I’m not sure how useful I actually found the book, as the advice felt like it was playing it pretty safe.  For the most part, the tips went like “Get rid of things you don’t use anymore” and “Clean your house” with about 75 different variations, each.  I’m glad I read it, but I don’t think I got much out of it.

Everything My Mother Taught Me – Alice Hoffman

Rating – 4 Stars

My final read for the month of January was another short story from an Amazon collection like the Forward collection.  This is Everything My Mother Taught Me, and it’s my first attempt at reading Alice Hoffman.  This follows a young girl who is living at a lighthouse and trying to navigate coming of age with her dysfunctional mother around her.  I can’t say much more than that given how short the story is, but I did really enjoy this.  This is a common complaint for me with short stories, but the main reason it didn’t get five stars is because it just didn’t feel fully fleshed out.  When I read Emergency Skin, I felt like Jemisin did a phenomenal job of packing a full story into a short amount of pages, and Everything My Mother Taught Me didn’t manage this as successfully.  I’m still quite eager to pick up more books by Hoffman, however, as I enjoyed her writing style.

Well, now that it’s almost March, I have finally shared what I read in January.  What did you read in the first month of the year?  Let me know in the comments below!

  January 2020 Reading Wrap-Up! Yes, I realize that this post is coming out nowhere near January, but I have been finding it difficult to keep up with blogging lately, so it is what it is, right? 

[eggoreviews]

Viddy Games Monthly #1 - February 2019

Is this really late? Sure Is!

Here's something new I'm trying! In this 'issue' (lol):

NEW RELEASES - A look back at everything exciting that dropped this month, from Resident Evil 2 to the new 2D Mario!

NEWS - January is usually pretty dry for viddy games, but there's some interesting stuff still!

Release dates, updates and more!

NEW RELEASES

Fitness Boxing (RD: January 4th - Nintendo Switch)

And here we have Nintendo’s first real attempt in this console generation to draw in the fitness crowd they catered to so well with the Wii. Except, Fitness Boxing feels a lot more technical and niche than those other titles from a decade ago. Fitness Boxing’s main draw is teaching you how to improve your boxing form, meaning it’s definitely not one to play with the family unless you’re all die hard boxing fans. But if you’re less interested in picking up the technical aspects, Fitness Boxing works just as well as a fitness companion, coming packed with its own motivational trainer (I haven’t picked this game up purely because it would feel like I’m cheating on the Wii Fit Trainer. Plus this basically dashes all hope of Wii Fit Switch so I’ll need to mourn that for a hot minute).

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey (RD: January 11th - Nintendo 3DS)

As the 3DS reaches the end of its lifespan and its screentime in the Nintendo Directs gets shorter, this Mario & Luigi title could well be one of the last RPGs we see on the system. In this enhanced remaster, the worlds of turn based RPG and 2D platformer collide and, coupling this fact with some odd setpieces including Bowser’s literal stomach, also make for one of the weirdest games on the system. Despite this, there’s no doubt that it works. With the addition of the Bowser Jr.’s Journey expansion, there’s undoubtedly a wealth of content to explore here, especially if you’re new to this oddly charming RPG spin-off.

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (RD: January 11th - Nintendo Switch)

The latest in a long line of Wii U ports, Nintendo has bundled up Mario U and Super Luigi U and released it yet again on the Switch. This is by no means a bad thing, as we had yet to see a 2D Mario on the system, but the general consensus seems to be that the play time is much shorter than the price would have you believe. Of course, if you’re a die hard Mario fan, there’s no doubt you’ve already picked this up and it’s definitely worth a go if you didn’t have a chance to play on Wii U. Alongside this, new features include new playable characters and helpful items for if you’re like me and are terrible at platformers (I welcome these changes). But really, I think the talk of the town was the fact they patched in Blue Toad before release when everyone got sad that he was absent. Thanks Nintendo.

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition (RD: January 11th - Windows, Xbox One, PS4, Switch)

An enhanced port with updated HD graphics to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this beloved entry in Bandai Namco’s Tales series. This edition comes packed with a beefy selection of new content, including all that was exclusive to Japan at the time of the PS3 port’s release. Generally, this game scored high at the time of its release, being cited as an interesting and unique JRPG that was made all the better by its trademark combat system that has been carried throughout the series.

The Walking Dead: The Final Season - Episode 3: Broken Toys (RD: January 15th - Windows, Xbox One, PS4, Switch)

Against all the odds, the critically acclaimed Walking Dead game series has somehow survived the closure of its creator, Telltale Games, continuing under Skybound Entertainment. The series continues to shine in critic reviews, which thankfully continues into the penultimate episode, Broken Toys. With a firm release date of the final episode being March 26th, we won’t have to wait long to finally witness the end of Clementine’s story.

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes (RD: January 18th - Nintendo Switch)

The third entry in the No More Heroes series has finally arrived 9 years after its second effort, though this time to mixed reviews. The gameplay fans of the series are used to has been totally overhauled this time around, instead throwing Travis into a possessed game console containing six wildly different, self-contained video games. This time, the gameplay is entirely from a top-down perspective. Some enjoyed this radical change of pace for the series, but other fans of Travis believed the drastic change was a little too jarring to enjoy in contrast to this entry’s predecessors.

Resident Evil 2 remake (RD: January 25th - Windows, PS4, Xbox One)

The highly anticipated remake of Capcom’s horror classic finally dropped this month, and let’s be honest, it’s everything fans wanted. The controversial move to ditch the usual fixed camera the early RE games are known for so the game could be built in Capcom’s home-grown Resident Evil 7 engine was what made the game so immersive and genuinely terrifying. With tons of gameplay tweaks, Capcom managed to tread the line between creating a fresh experience and staying faithful to the original game. Entirely different puzzle solutions, new dialogue and a whole new playable character in Sherry Birkin ensures that those who know the original inside out will still have more to discover, but the return of each horrifying boss and setpiece in glorious HD puts the nostalgia into overdrive. Plus, the tofu block came back so really there’s nothing to gripe at.

Kingdom Hearts III (RD: January 29th - Xbox One, PS4)

Here it is. The game fans have been waiting 14 years for. The one that ties every character and confusing plot arc together and says ‘Merry christmas, Baymax is in this game now!’

With a few fan favourite worlds returning among a handful of new ones, Kingdom Hearts has finally launched itself into the current gen with a heartfelt tale of friendship and big hair. There really is very little to say about this, because we all knew it was going to be good.

Also out this month:

First person shooter Bright Memory released this month to positive reception, despite controversy around the stolen assets used by the devs.

Charming adventure game Vane dropped this month, allowing players to explore a beautiful world as a boy who can turn into a bird.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, the critically acclaimed combat flight sim series, released for PS4 and Xbox One, with some great VR content.

Life Is Strange 2 Episode 2 - Rules released this month, continuing the heartfelt tale of two brothers on the run

Gothic Indie RPG Sunless Skies released at the very end of January, showing a detailed focus on narrative and exploration

NEWS

What’s been happenin’? Probably a lot, but this is what I picked up on!

Metroid Prime 4 has gone a bit wonky

As everyone has probably heard by now, the long awaited Metroid Prime 4 has officially been halted and restarted, as announced in a commendably transparent video Nintendo published on their YouTube channel last month. Basically, they weren’t happy with how development was going so they’ve gone back to square one, this time with the help of past Prime developers Retro Studios. Honestly, this is a really good sign, as it shows how committed Nintendo are to creating a solid game to stand next to the other three. Plus, this makes a Prime trilogy switch port way more likely in my eyes, so hooray for that.

Piranha Plant got here early!

At the tail end of January, those who redeemed their plant boi codes turned on Smash and suddenly got the gratefully received ‘Piranha Plant joins the battle’ message! I can confirm I made a bit of a weird dolphin noise when I saw he’d turned up before the estimated February release. In another post, I’ll be breaking down his moveset in a bit more detail, so keep an eye out for that if you’re a fellow plant connoisseur!

Sony patents retro back-compatibility for PS5?

A new patent Sony put through last month that they tried to sneak by us MAY hint at retro back-compatibility for their next system, spanning all four of their home consoles. If this news is true, this could give Sony a massive edge in the next console gen, as remasters and retro games become increasingly popular, as well as the fact that people are unlikely to want to leave the considerable PS4 library behind. So at the very least, we can hope for PS4 games to be playable on the PS5.

Cross platform achievements could be a thing!

A since removed GDC listing teased the possible integration of Xbox Live onto iOS, Android and, interestingly, the Nintendo Switch! At a base level, this would very probably mean that achievements between these two consoles would be cross compatible, or at least viewable on either console. While nothing is confirmed just yet, this could be a sign of the growing partnership between Microsoft and Nintendo.

Nintendo is really lovin’ their mobile games!

With Switch sales beginning to level out ever so slightly, Nintendo seems to be turning to the mobile market. A mobile Mario Kart was announced a couple of years ago, but now it finally has a name, Mario Kart Tour. It’s now slated for a Summer 2019 release. Alongside this, Nintendo have announced Dr. Mario World for mobile, as well as rumours bubbling under that Dragalia Lost could be seeing a localised port for Canada and Europe.

New Nintendo Selects for the States!

Super Mario Maker, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D and Star Fox 64 3D have arrived in America as Nintendo Selects, thankfully proving that Nintendo aren’t quite willing to let the 3DS die just yet. Not to be that guy, but Majora’s Mask over in Europe as a select would be pretty great. Pls.

Indie Highlights

And finally, Nintendo has dropped another Indie Highlights on us, featuring the likes of Wargroove, When Ski Lifts Go Wrong, Forager and the (long awaited?) Goat Simulator port. Worth a look if you’re looking for something a little wackier to play this month!

That’s all the headlines for this month!

FREE VIDYA

Are you subscribed to whatever online service your console has? Then oh boy, you got some free stuff!

NES Nintendo Switch Online - Blaster Master & Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

This month, Nintendo added the ever wonderful and upsettingly hard Zelda II to their retro lineup, along with lesser known run-and-gun platformer Blaster Master.

PlayStation Plus - Steep & Portal Knights

It’s a good month for snowboard enthusiasts over on the PS4 this month, as Ubisoft’s open world sports game Steep joins the lineup. Alongside this, the artistically charming RPG Portal Knights was free last month. January also marked the final month of PS Plus support for the Vita and PS3, with Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion & Super Mutant Alien Assault joining the Vita lineup and Zone of the Enders HD Collection and Amplitude free for PS3 owners

Xbox Game Pass

January was a hecking good month for members of the Xbox game pass, with the entire Life Is Strange saga joining the service, along with other quality games such as Just Cause 3, Farming Simulator 17, Absolver, Aftercharge and ARK: Survival Evolved.

RELEASE DATES

Yoshi’s Crafted World

Nintendo released a story trailer for Yoshi’s creative new outing, showing off Baby Bowser and Kamek as the game’s villains. The release date set for this uniquely cardboard platformer is March 29th, so fans won’t have to wait long!

Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn

Breathing new life into the 3DS is this enhanced port of Kirby’s Epic Yarn, which originally released on the Wii in 2010. Featuring all new content that wasn’t available the first time around, fans of the Kirby series will be able to pick this up from March 8th.

Final Fantasy remasters

After the exciting announcement in September that beloved Final Fantasy games would be coming to other consoles in 2019, Square Enix have finally announced release dates for a couple of these titles. Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster will hit the Switch and Xbox One on April 16th, while Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age arrives on both of these consoles on April 30th.

RUMOURS

Welcome to probably the most controversial segment of this, the rumour-y bit! Just a pre-warning that nothing talked about here is by any means confirmed, so keep your expectations tempered.

SNES for Switch Online?

A recent datamine into the NES Switch Online app has apparently revealed a list of 20 SNES games in the code that could be coming to the system in the future, including Mario World, Kirby Superstar, A Link to the Past and Super Metroid. I’m hesitant to say this is true because nothing has been said on Nintendo’s end yet, but considering the lack of content for Switch Online as of yet, I’d say it’s fairly likely in any case. If this is true, we can all hope for DK Country and EarthBound also because pls Nintendo.

Smash Ultimate Fighter Pass Leak

There have been two notable datamines in the past month that could reveal our four remaining DLC fighters for Smash Ultimate. The first uncovered three names in the coding for the game, Plant (obviously referring to Piranha Plant), Jack (Likely Joker from Persona 5) and Brave (Speculated to be Erdrick from the Dragon Quest series). The reason why Brave is so heavily speculated to be Erdrick is because, in Japan, the hero class Erdrick belongs to in Dragon Quest is called ‘Yusha’, which translates to brave in English. Alongside this, one of the heads of development for Smash Ultimate, Shinya Kumazaki, recently posted a photo of the iconic shield from Dragon Quest with the caption ‘the brave’s shield’, which naturally sent the internet into meltdown. Personally, I think Erdrick is pretty much a dead cert for the DLC roster at this point, especially after that Instagram tease.

Thanks for reading!

In the next issue, most likely in the first week of March, I’ll be reviewing the likes of Jump Force, Metro Exodus, Far Cry New Dawn and Anthem, plus giving you a rundown of anything game-y that happens in February! Plus, the new game of the month feature will begin next time, as I explain my choice for January’s best game. Have a fun day. Stay hydrated.

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

Sailor Proof by Annabeth Albert

Shore Leave #1

 What fun this book proved to be! I fell in love with Derrick and Arthur but also with Arthur’s family and the look into what it must be like to be involved with someone in the Navy. I knew that the men on the LST that evacuated us from Lebanon were missing their families, appreciated the effort they made to keep us safe, and thought of them again today while reading this book and realized even more the sacrifices they and their families make every day to do the jobs they do.

 What I liked:

* Derrick Fox: Petty Naval Chief working with sonar in a submarine, orphaned as a youth, raised by his grandmother, the Navy is his career, and he is focused, sweet, kind, gentle, confident, and perfect for Arthur.

* Arthur Euler: musician, different from other family members, fun loving, lives for himself, kind, generous, interesting, perfect for Derrick.

* The Euler family: large, loving, boisterous, competitive, do-gooders, there for on another.

* The look into part of what it might be like to be in the Navy and/or to fall for someone in the Navy.

* The growth of the relationship between Arthur and Derrick

* That the obstacles to overcome were dealt with honestly

* The communication between the couple

* The support of Arthur’s mother

* That the relationship between Derrick and Arthur was healthy and normal and believable

* The family reunion and the activities and situations that occurred there

* All of it really!

 What I didn’t like:

* Can’t think of anything except maybe the undervaluing of Arthur by some of his family.

 Did I enjoy this book? Yes

Would I read more in this series? Yes

 Thank you to NetGalley and Carina Adores for the ARC – This is my honest review.

 5 Stars

   Sailor Proof by Annabeth Albert is available in trade paperback, eBook and audiobook on September 28th!

 The sexy Navy chief and his best friend’s adorkable little brother…

 It’s petty, but Naval Chief Derrick Fox wishes he could exact a little revenge on his ex by showing off a rebound fling. His submarine is due to return to its Bremerton, Washington, home base soon and Derrick knows all too well there won't be anyone waiting with a big, showy welcome.

 Enter one ill-advised plan…

 Arthur Euler is the guy you go to in a pinch—he's excellent at out-of-the-box solutions. It's what the genius music-slash-computer nerd is known for. So when he finds out Derrick needs a favor, he’s happy to help. He can muster the sort of welcome a Naval Chief deserves, no problem at all.

 Except it is a problem. A very big problem.

 When Arthur’s homecoming welcome is a little too convincing, when a video of their gangplank smooch goes enormously viral, they're caught between a dock and a hard place. Neither of them ever expected a temporary fake relationship to look—or feel—so real. And Arthur certainly never considered he'd be fighting for a very much not-fake forever with a military man.

 Add Sailor Proof to your Goodreads!

 Carina Adores is home to highly romantic contemporary love stories featuring beloved romance tropes, where LGBTQ+ characters find their happily-ever-afters. 

 Discover a new Carina Adores book every month!

Meet Me in Madrid by     Verity Lowell (coming October 26)

The Life Revamp by     Kris Ripper (coming November 30)

If You Love Something by     Jayce Ellis (coming December 28)

D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding     by Chencia C. Higgins (coming January 25)

Sink or Swim     by Annabeth Albert (coming February 22)

 Buy Sailor Proof by Annabeth albert

https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335984920_sailor-proof.html 

  EXCERPT

Derrick

Arthur turned out hot. That was my first thought when I spotted him after I heard my name called. Derrick. My actual name, not Fox, not Chief, and outside of Calder a couple of times, I hadn’t heard that name in months. And definitely not like that, all eager and excited and happy. On the sub, hearing my name inevitably meant that someone needed something right that minute, but the way Arthur said it didn’t inspire dread at all.

I’d already been caught up in the energy of the day. Homecoming day was always exciting, even if I didn’t usually have someone waiting. The whole crew was jostling about, getting into our dress whites, making sure everything from our cover to the chest candy of ribbons and medals to the gig line was perfectly straight. Getting chosen to be on deck as we came into port was an honor, one that I usually let others, especially those with kids, fight over, since there was still plenty to do belowdecks in preparation and support. As the chief sonar tech, I was responsible for working with the A-gangers from engineering and the operations department to help navigate us in. Adrenaline was contagious, and by the time my department was cleared to disembark, I had enough energy to rival the reactor that powered the sub.

And then I heard my name.

I recognized Arthur’s red hair right away. But the rest…

Wow. Arthur had grown hot. Still shorter than me and skinnier, but wiry now, each lean muscle defined under a thin white shirt and tight jeans. No signs of his ever-present too-big nerd-humor tees. Same startling green eyes as before, though, and a new, more chiseled jaw sporting the perfect amount of fuzz. He’d grown into his long regal nose, and the hair that had seemed to have a life of its own when he’d been a teen was sculpted now, this perfectly styled wave that made me want to mess it up. His hands, which had always seemed too big for the rest of him, were clutching a giant sign.

For me.

And for a second—a literal instant when our eyes met and time stopped—I forgot it wasn’t real. And in that moment, I wanted it to be. Someone smiling that broadly for me. Had Steve ever been so happy to see me? Hell, I wasn’t even sure the poodle my grandmother had let me keep had been that happy. Arthur just radiated pure joy. The kid was one hell of an actor.

“Welcome home.” Even his voice was different. Deeper. Sexier.

“Hey,” I said because I was simply that brilliant at conver­sation. I reached an arm out, instinctively going for a hand­shake, but Arthur shifted his sign and met me partway, coming in for a hug.

A really tight hug.

Damn, he felt good. Amazing really. Solid muscle against me, hair tickling my nose, exactly as silky as it looked, strong arms able to haul me in and hold me tight. He smelled like mint and green tea, two things in short supply on a boat that tended to smell like old socks on a good day. Sweet. I inhaled deeply as his lips brushed my ear.

“Calder said to kiss you,” he whispered. “And I want to. But you gotta tell me you’re good with that first.”

Was I good with that? Hot guy who smelled like a concoction I wanted to drink every day for a month wanted to kiss me. And ordinarily, the friendship code would put Arthur far, far off-limits, but here was Calder telling us to kiss. It was a free pass, the sort I’d be a fool to turn down.

I wasn’t a fool.

And what harm could a peck do?

“Yeah.” My voice was a rough whisper, and I didn’t have a chance to brace myself before Arthur was sliding his mouth over from my ear to mouth. A double shot of tequila would have had less punch than the first brush of contact.

And okay, not a peck.

We were kissing. Arthur and I, which should have been weird but somehow wasn’t. At all. Someone whooped behind us, but almost all of my attention was riveted on Arthur, like I was on watch and every sense was heightened lest I miss something vital.

Like how soft his lips were. Full too. Or the bristle of his scruff against my cheek. I’d done a submarine shave that morn­ing, not my best job, but close enough that the rasp of beard felt electric. Our chests were pressed so tightly that I could feel his heart pounding. Or maybe that was mine, blood zooming to places that had been in deep freeze for months.

“Wow.” Arthur pulled back, leaving me dazed and still clinging to him.

“Damn.” The statuesque purple-haired woman he’d been standing with laughed loudly and thumped Arthur’s shoul­der. “Is that the best you can do? Your man has been at sea how many months?”

Your man. If only. If he were actually mine, we’d be racing across base, a mad dash to find a room with a door. But he wasn’t and all we’d ever have was this moment. A potent mix of want and resolve raced through me as suddenly I was determined to make this count.

I pulled him back to me, and this time when our mouths collided, I was ready. Ready to taste. Ready to absorb every single detail. Ready to seize control and kiss like the world might be ending.

And it could have. Not sure I would have noticed. Everything faded away. The crowd. The docks. The balloons Arthur had been clutching and his sign both as his strong hands clung to my shoulders as we kissed in earnest. He tasted like he smelled, sweet and minty, and his tongue against mine was like floodlights coming on.

“Welcome home,” Arthur breathed against my mouth as the sound of applause gradually pulled me back into awareness of our surroundings. Applause. Whoops of laughter. Clicking cameras. But still I couldn’t seem to look away from him.

About Annabeth Albert

Annabeth Albert grew up sneaking romance novels under the bed covers. Now, she devours all subgenres of romance out in the open—no flashlights required! When she’s not adding to her keeper shelf, she’s a Pacific Northwest romance writer of many critically acclaimed and fan-favorite LGBTQ romance series.  To find out more, check out: www.annabethalbert.com. The fan group, Annabeth’s Angels, on Facebook is also a great place for bonus content.

 Connect with Annabeth Albert

Website: https://www.annabethalbert.com/ 

Facebook Fan Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/annabethsangels 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnabethAlbert 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annabeth_albert/ 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6477494.Annabeth_Albert 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Annabeth-Albert/e/B00LYFFAZK 

[orbemnews]

Why Amazon’s Workers Sided With It Over a Union When Graham Brooks received his ballot in early February, asking whether he wanted to form a union at the Amazon warehouse in Alabama where he works, he did not hesitate. He marked the NO box, and mailed the ballot in. After almost six years of working at nearby newspapers, Mr. Brooks, 29, makes about $1.55 more an hour at Amazon, and is optimistic he can move up. “I personally didn’t see the need for a union,” he said. “If I was being treated differently, I may have voted differently.” Mr. Brooks is one of almost 1,800 employees who handed Amazon a runaway victory in the company’s hardest-fought battle to keep unions out of its warehouses. The result — announced last week, with 738 workers voting to form a union — dealt a crushing blow to labor and Democrats when conditions appeared ripe for them to make advances. For some workers at the warehouse, like Mr. Brooks, the minimum wage of $15 an hour is more than they made in previous jobs and provided a powerful incentive to side with the company. Amazon’s health insurance, which kicks in on the first day of employment, also encouraged loyalty, workers said. Carla Johnson, 44, said she had learned she had brain cancer just a few months after starting work last year at the warehouse, which is in Bessemer, Ala. Amazon’s health care covered her treatment. “I was able to come in Day 1 with benefits, and that could have possibly made the difference in life or death,” Ms. Johnson said at a press event that Amazon organized after the vote. Patricia Rivera, who worked at the Bessemer warehouse from September until January, said many of her co-workers in their 20s or younger had opposed the union because they felt pressured by Amazon’s anti-union campaign and felt that the wages and benefits were solid. “For a younger person, it’s the most money they ever made,” said Ms. Rivera, who would have voted in favor of the union had she stayed. “I give them credit. They start you out and you get insurance right away.” Ms. Rivera left Amazon because she felt she wasn’t adequately compensated for time she had to take off while quarantining after exposure to Covid-19 at work, she said. Amazon, in a statement after the election, said, “We’re not perfect, but we’re proud of our team and what we offer, and will keep working to get better every day.” Other workers said in interviews that they or their co-workers did not trust unions or had confidence in Amazon’s anti-union message that the workers could change the company from within. Often, in explaining their position, they echoed the arguments that Amazon had made in mandatory meetings, where it stressed its pay, raised doubts about what a union could guarantee and said benefits could be reduced if workers unionized. When a union representative called her about the vote, Ms. Johnson said, he couldn’t answer a pointed question about what the union could promise to deliver. “He hung up on me,” she said. “If you try to sell me something, I need you to be able to sell that product.” Danny Eafford, 59, said he had taken every opportunity to tell co-workers at the warehouse that he strongly opposed the union, arguing that it wouldn’t improve their situation. He said he had told colleagues about how a union let him down when he lost a job years ago at the Postal Service. His job, which involves ordering cardboard, tape and other supplies, did not make him eligible to cast a ballot. But when the company offered “VOTE NO” pins, he gladly put one on his safety vest. “The union’s job is not to keep you — it is to keep everybody,” he said he had told colleagues. “If you are looking for the individual help, it will not be there.” J.C. Thompson, 43, said he believed a commitment by management to improve the workplace over the next 100 days, a promise made during the company’s campaign. He had joined other anti-union workers in pushing Amazon to better train employees and to educate managers on anti-bias techniques. “We’re going to do everything that we can to address those issues,” Mr. Thompson said. He appeared with Ms. Johnson at the Amazon event. Pastor George Matthews of New Life Interfaith Ministries said numerous members of his congregation worked at the warehouse, just a few miles away, and had expressed gratitude for the job. But he was still surprised and disappointed that more did not vote to unionize, even in the traditionally anti-union South, given how hard they described the work. In talking with congregants, Mr. Matthews said, he has come to believe that workers were too scared to push for more and risk what they have. “You don’t want to turn over the proverbial apple cart because those apples are sweet — larger than the apples I had before — so you don’t mess with it,” he said. With its mandatory meetings and constant messaging, Amazon used its advantages to run a more successful campaign than the union, said Alex Colvin, dean of Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. “We know campaigns change positions,” he said. Stuart Applebaum, the president of the retail workers union that led the organizing effort, cited several factors to explain the loss beyond Amazon’s anti-union efforts. He pointed to the high rate of turnover among employees, estimating that up to 25 percent of Amazon workers who would have been eligible to vote in early January had left by the end of voting in late March — potentially more than the company’s entire margin of victory. Mr. Appelbaum surmised that people who had left would have been more likely to support the union because they were typically less satisfied with their jobs. Mr. Brooks said that on the previous Friday, he saw eight or 10 new faces in the area where he worked. “I was told they were Day 3 employees,” he said, “and I noticed a few more today.” Many of the workers at the warehouse have complaints about Amazon, wanting shorter hours or less obtrusive monitoring of their production. Mr. Brooks and others said they wished their 10-hour shift had a break period longer than 30 minutes because in the vast warehouse, they can spend almost half their break just walking to and from the lunchroom. Turnout for the vote was low, at only about half of all eligible workers, suggesting that neither Amazon nor the union had overwhelming support. Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, said Thursday in his annual letter to investors that the outcome in Bessemer did not bring him “comfort.” “It’s clear to me that we need a better vision for how we create value for employees — a vision for their success,” he wrote. Michael Corkery contributed reporting. Source link Orbem News #Amazons #Sided #union #Workers

[dipulb3]

Building the big one: Behind the scenes of Biden's $1.9 trillion bet

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/building-the-big-one-behind-the-scenes-of-bidens-1-9-trillion-bet/

Building the big one: Behind the scenes of Biden's $1.9 trillion bet

They’d been working on it for nearly two months, identifying needs and, at Biden’s direction, crafting the plan around them, regardless of cost. But if the Democrats won in Georgia, the plan would suddenly go from an aspiration they would have to bargain with Republicans over, to a reality as long as they kept their party unified.

With no war room to report to that night, no headquarters or even a transition office to gather in, the Biden staffers were all glued to the TVs in their homes around Washington, or, in the case of incoming White House chief of staff Ron Klain, in Delaware with Biden, firing off texts to one another as each Georgia county reported results.

“Everybody understood for weeks what the impact of winning the two Georgia races might be,” Steve Ricchetti, the long-time Biden adviser who would become counselor to the president, told Appradab in an interview. “We invested a lot of time and effort in it in the weeks leading up to it because we obviously understood what it could mean for our agenda.”

The twin victories marked a political earthquake for the incoming president and opened the door to one of the largest public health and economic relief proposals in US history.

For all of Biden’s talk of bipartisanship, Democrats now had the power to move their top priority without a single Republican vote. It was the same situation as 2009, when the Obama administration rushed to pass a relief package during his first month in office. Back then Democrats lowered the size of the plan to garner some Republican support, a decision many of them came to regret during the slow recovery that followed.

This time would be different. From the outset, the common goal among Biden’s team was to go big — even if that meant going it alone.

At $1.9 trillion, the American Rescue Plan is second only in size to last year’s $2.2 trillion CARES Act. When it was first unveiled to the public on January 14, the assumption among Republicans and even some Democrats was that Biden’s nearly $2 trillion moonshot was an opening offer, a place to start negotiations that would inevitably lead to a smaller price tag.

But there would be no negotiating from Biden’s team. That was the number, and while there was room to bargain over marginal side items, the topline wasn’t moving.

This story is based on interviews with more than two dozen officials from the White House, Capitol Hill and outside interest groups who worked directly with the campaign and transition on Biden’s cornerstone legislative proposal. Appradab also spoke to Republican lawmakers and aides who remain agog at the size of the package and the speed with which Biden has pushed it along.

Last week, as Democrats on Capitol Hill began the legislative maneuvering to prepare the bill for reconciliation, a few key Republican senators remained convinced that Biden is in a different place than his more progressive — and aggressive — staff. Other Republican senators have expressed borderline shock at their former colleague’s firm line.

Even Larry Summers, long considered one of the pre-eminent economists in the Democratic Party — though he is loathed by many on the left — warned the plan would spend too much money too fast and crowd out future funds for other progressive priorities like infrastructure, education and climate.

Yet the Biden team has remained unfazed, and congressional and White House officials are targeting early March for the bill to land on Biden’s desk, which would mark it as the largest piece of spending any president has enacted in his first 100 days. Bipartisan Senate talks are still ongoing, aides say. But with Democratic leaders in both chambers aligned with the White House, there’s little sense at this point they will change the direction of things.

There are certainly risks involved. Republicans have lashed out at Biden, claiming his calls for unity and bipartisanship must not be genuine. The economic concerns raised by Summers and Republicans will trail the proposal through every turn of the months and years ahead. The huge bill also threatens to put moderate Democrats in a difficult spot, and Biden can’t afford to lose a single one.

With the Senate deadlocked 50-50, the bill passed its first test last week thanks only to the tie-breaker vote of Vice President Kamala Harris, when Democrats muscled through their budget resolution. Though the party has stayed unified in the opening weeks, a single senator can slow or halt the process altogether.

Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, kept the process on track — and elicited sighs of relief among Democrats — when he said he’d vote to move forward in a statement shortly before the vote. But it included a warning for the sweeping package.

“Let me be clear — and these are words I shared with President Biden — our focus must be targeted on the COVID-19 crisis and Americans who have been most impacted by this pandemic,” Manchin said.

But that high wire act has done nothing to convince Biden and his team to scale back.

“The way I see it, the biggest risk is not going too big,” Biden said in a sweeping economic speech February 5 outlining his hardline on the proposal. “It’s if we go too small.”

Building the bill

The meetings began in November, not long after the election was called for Biden. Even before the President-elect’s transition officially kicked into gear, Biden’s top advisers, many of whom would get jobs in the White House, gathered daily — and always virtually — to hash out what they knew would become the single most prominent marker of their accomplishments in their first 100 days in office.

From the start, they took a unique approach.

Often, when spending bills are crafted, the topline number is settled on first as lawmakers and officials figure out what is possible and work down from there. But Biden’s team says it started at the bottom and built up. The $1.9 trillion figure wasn’t nailed down until the days before its public release, advisers say.

As they went, the goal was two-fold — fund everything needed to end the pandemic, while also doling out enough money to float struggling Americans until things got back to normal. The proposal includes $160 billion for vaccine distribution and testing, $130 billion for K-12 schools, and $350 billion for state and local governments. It also contains hundreds of billions more in aid to families, including $1,400 in direct monthly payments, expanded nutrition assistance programs, extensions of emergency unemployment programs, and big expansions of the Child Tax and Earned income Tax Credits, boosting the benefits to a level some economists project could cut child poverty in half.

As the plan came together, administration officials said one priority remained clear: Biden didn’t want just a short-term infusion of stimulus, with patches and temporary extensions to various aid provisions to keep the economy afloat for a few months — he wanted to lock in long-term aid and investment. Enough money not just to pull the US out of the pandemic, but to give it the fuel for a massive future expansion.

It marked a fundamentally different approach from congressional Republicans — one that would define negotiations destined for failure. Senate Republicans viewed tens of billions in unspent funds from past relief packages and an economic picture that showed signs of recovery once vaccines were deployed as a reason to carefully target any new aid.

Republicans would offer shorter-term extensions of individual benefits, smaller direct payments, no money for state and local governments, all with a significant influx of funds for vaccine distribution and testing. It would be rejected out of hand.

To build the proposal and help shepherd it through, Biden fielded a familiar group of advisers, the most senior of whom had all served in key roles in the Obama White House. The group eventually included more than a dozen officials. Jeff Zients became Biden’s coronavirus response coordinator, Cecilia Rouse was nominated to chair the Council of Economic Advisers, and Susan Rice was appointed to lead the Domestic Policy Council.

Brian Deese, the incoming director of Biden’s National Economic Council, became Biden’s point person on selling the package. Deese, who was running the automotive industry rescue for Obama in 2009 even as he was finishing his Yale law degree, held meetings and calls with dozens of lawmakers from both parties. Deese kept outside supporters looped in, and served, in large part, as the face of the proposal in the media.

He also became a point of frustration for Republican lawmakers, who quickly came to view him as unbending in any talks over the plan, GOP aides told Appradab. That is less a reflection of Deese, administration officials say, and more a reflection of how the package was constructed from the start.

Shortly before Christmas, Biden’s team got an unexpected assist when President Donald Trump began threatening to sink a bipartisan relief package if its direct payments to Americans weren’t increased to $2,000, from $600. Up until then, direct payments weren’t a focus of what Biden’s team was putting together. But congressional Democrats seized on the moment and passed the increase in a House bill that surprisingly secured 44 Republican votes.

Though the increase was halted by the Republican-led Senate, the House vote proved there was bi-partisan support for giving significantly more money to families. Biden quickly went on the record in support of the idea, and it soon became a focal point of the two Georgia Senate runoffs, with Warnock and Ossoff pledging to get the increase passed if elected.

“If you send Jon and the Reverend to Washington, those $2,000 checks will go out the door,” Biden said during a campaign stop in Atlanta the day before the runoff election.

After Warnock and Ossoff both won, Biden’s team made those checks — an additional $1,400 to the $600 already disbursed — a central selling-point for the proposal. Biden, as the proposal started to move through Congress, repeatedly told lawmakers backing off the size of the checks was a promise he simply wouldn’t break. It also meant the size of the package would get even bigger.

Problems with vaccines

As meetings stretched past the holidays and into the new year, a troubling picture began to emerge within Biden’s team over the state of vaccine distribution they’d be inheriting. Data coming in from transition landing teams at agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Health and Human Services, as well as intelligence from companies contracted to create and distribute the vaccine, suggested something worse than they had expected.

Not only was the economy in a deep hole, the thing that would help the most, a robust plan to get vaccines into the arms of millions of Americans, was almost non-existent, advisers say.

While the Trump administration’s work to produce a vaccine was unprecedented in its speed and success, its plan for how to distribute the shots themselves — heavily reliant on states, limited in centralized data and lacking a fulsome infrastructure — was anything but.

Vaccine distribution “was much more troubled than we thought it was,” a senior administration official said.

The more they learned, the more Biden’s team came to the view that vaccine distribution under the Trump administration “wasn’t even at the starting line,” one person in close contact with Biden’s team said. The view was “we have to rebuild just to get to that starting line,” the person recounted.

As they calculated what would eventually be the $160 billion vaccine and testing piece of the proposal, Biden’s team built itself a cushion as they modeled out various scenarios of how the months ahead would play out, deciding to overshoot projected needs rather than risk coming up short.

“They were walking a pretty fine line between being able to outright justify it while also making sure it was going to be enough regardless of what came next” in the crisis, another person involved said.

As the administration pushed toward Biden’s stated goal of 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days, the vaccine and testing elements of the proposal became the least controversial.

“We went in thinking these were negotiations”

On January 27, nearly two weeks after the Biden team first unveiled the $1.9 trillion price tag, Senate Republicans held an internal conference call to talk strategy. By then, it was apparent they wouldn’t be playing much of a role in crafting the bill. According to two people on the call, several moderate senators teed off on what they viewed as clear signals that Biden’s team had no intention of negotiating.

Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, pointed out that none of the Republicans were consulted as the administration crafted its $1.9 trillion plan. Portman, who would later speak with Biden by phone, told his colleagues the entire process up to that point painted Biden’s message of bipartisanship as a façade.

Sen. Susan Collins, who would serve as the leader of the 10 Republicans seeking talks with Biden told her colleagues she felt the same way. Collins and Biden had a close working relationship, one that played a role in her vote in favor of Obama’s stimulus when Biden was vice president. But Collins, the people said, told her colleagues that interactions with White House staff up to that point led her to believe the White House was in a “take it or leave” situation. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, echoed similar sentiments.

While nobody took direct umbrage with Biden himself, frustration with his team was pervasive.

A group of 10 Republican senators led by Collins, Murkowski and Portman grappled with how to proceed. In a deliberate effort to signal that they were serious about dealing with the pandemic, the group released a $618 billion counter proposal that made a point of matching to the dollar the White House’s funding request for vaccine distribution and testing, $160 billion.

The hope was to show good faith and open negotiations on other items. Instead, Republicans ran into what one senator told Appradab was “a total wall.”

“We went in thinking these were negotiations,” a senior GOP aide told Appradab. “They went in saying this is our proposal if you’d like to join us.”

It’s a reality Republicans say runs completely contrary to Biden’s stated goal of bipartisanship. More than one GOP lawmaker has said publicly they believe the unwillingness to negotiate came more from Biden’s advisers than Biden himself.

To many Republican senators, that sentiment was bolstered by what happened on February 1 after a nearly two-hour Oval Office meeting with Biden and his top advisers. According to participants on both sides, the sit-down was overwhelmingly positive. After four years of dealing with President Donald Trump, to Republicans in the room, the meeting was a refreshing change. Even if he was a Democrat, Biden engaged on legislative details in a way that Trump rarely had.

Collins and her Republican colleagues left optimistic they had created an opening to negotiate on a few items.

“I think it was an excellent meeting and we’re very appreciative that as his first official meeting in the Oval Office, the President chose to spend so much time with us in a frank and very useful discussion,” Collins told reporters just outside the West Wing.

But a little more than an hour later, the White House released a statement sinking any hopes of significant Republican deal-making. The tone — firm, and line after line underscoring the view the White House wasn’t budging — blindsided the Republicans who participated, multiple sources said.

Republicans told their colleagues after the meeting the interactions with Biden made them believe he was open to tangible negotiations, with a willingness to listen, take notes, consult his own briefing book, and engage on each topic, sources told Appradab. He didn’t offer any concrete concessions, but he had made clear talks should continue — and that his staff would follow up with more detailed justifications for his plan.

Plowing ahead

By 11 a.m. the next morning, White House officials sent memos to the GOP senators laying out some key justifications for their plan, most notably on direct payments and school funding.

The memos, obtained by Appradab, demonstrate no hint of malleability. Instead, they underscore just how far about apart both sides were.

While Republicans were proposing $20 billion in K-12 school funding, the White House wasn’t budging off its desire to spend more than six times that. In justifying its $130 billion request for schools, which includes money not just for the current school year, but the next one as well, the White House said it intended to give school districts “financial certainty that they will not have to lay off teachers next fall in order to implement consistent COVID-19 safety protocols.”

Republican critics remain stunned by the amount of money the White House wants for schools, especially since so much of what’s already been passed from earlier coronavirus relief packages remains unspent. Of the $67.5 billion in school funds that Congress has appropriated since last year, only $4.4 billion had been spent as of January 22, according to spending reports shared with lawmakers.

White House officials say they believe that money, which has already been obligated, will be spent in the weeks ahead.

“This isn’t finished,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week of the pandemic. “But experts agree that remaining damage to our economy does not require another multi-trillion dollar non-targeted band-aid.”

Republicans didn’t respond to the White House memo for more than two days — something Biden aides viewed caustically — and when they did, their letter outlined the same concerns about key elements of the proposal, and the data used to justify the White House numbers, raised in the Oval Office. It provided yet another window into talks that appeared to be going nowhere fast.

By Thursday, February 4, Democrats in both chambers were on track to have the first key legislative step — passing budget resolutions — done before the weekend.

That afternoon, the Washington Post published a column from Summers warning that the Biden plan was, in fact, too large for the moment and risked overheating the economy.

White House aides were furious at Summers, particularly over his timing. The next day, Biden would give a major economic speech designed to lay out his rationale for the size, scale and speed of the package. The column created one of the first messaging headaches for the new administration. It also outraged the economic team because they viewed it, in the words of Biden CEA member Jared Bernstein as “just wrong.”

“This isn’t stimulus and for some reason Larry thinks it’s stimulus,” one source involved in the process, who pointedly noted Biden’s teams had “obviously” considered the concerns outlined by Summers, told Appradab. “This is a bridge and this is investment, one that will disburse in various stages over several quarters.”

Emboldened, that afternoon the Senate began a 15-hour marathon voting session, with all 50 Senate Democrats signing onto a budget resolution that would lay the groundwork for the eventual package. The final vote came before dawn the next morning, when Harris served as the tie breaker. A few moments later, at 5:35 am on February 5, newly-minted Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, standing on the Senate floor, affixed a microphone to his jacket lapel. It had been one month since Ossoff and Warnock, now US Senators, had made possible what they’d just done.

Schumer noted the anniversary. Then he underscored the moment.

“Just a month from that day, we have taken a giant step to begin to fulfill our promise.”

[gosatsuvns]

Weekly Update #176 - A Look Back At 2017 & A Look Ahead At 2018

Tomorrow's the last day of 2017. With that in mind I have decided that, rather than postpone it until the 1st or even wait until next Saturday, I will use today's blog post to take a look back at 2017 and give you an idea as to what you can expect from us in 2018.

So, without further ado, let's see what we have managed to accomplish throughout this past year!

Unfortunately, this year, we don't have anything as big as the release of SHINRAI - Broken Beyond Despair to look back on. Nevertheless, there are a number of things I'm rather proud of.

At the beginning of the year, I was mostly working on SHINRAI's sequel, Withering Without Hope, updating the sprites for recurring characters like Raiko, Nobara and Henjin, for example. I generally worked on a lot of basic things in order to lay the foundation for our next game. Like the story and setting, planning the layout of the new location and starting to work on its design. If you have read one of our more recent blog posts, you might already know that the events of WWH will take place at the Ginmaku Movie Theater. I'm planning to finish the first background of the game as soon as possible so that you can have an actual first look at it.

Over the past 1 1/2 months, I've gotten back into WWH again and I'm planning to continue working on it over the next few months as well... as opposed to pushing it aside almost completely like I did around April.

Why did I do that, you might wonder... Well, that's because I wanted to focus solely on GENBA no Kizuna, the other project we are currently working on and which we officially revealed in June along with its main cast.

Up until that point, I had referred to it as our "dinosaur project" and by now, you should know why that is (at least if you've kept up with our blog posts over the last six months).

GENBA takes place at the Kaseki Residence, home of a world-renowned paleontologist. As such, it features a dinosaur-themed interior, but this "dinosaur theme" is also seeping into character designs and other things, similar to how "Halloween" was the theme for BBD.

GENBA is going to be shorter, a bit more fast-paced and more gameplay-oriented than SHINRAI, featuring a lot more interactivity. With the police actively involved in the investigation, the story being told mostly through dialogue, as well as the ability to experience it through the eyes of multiple characters, it will certainly feel rather different from our previous VN.

Nevertheless, it is still a murder mystery and it does actually connect to SHINRAI in very important ways. A topic I've talked about not too long ago.

With our focus mainly lying on GENBA for most of the year, we naturally made quite some progress with it. By creating a whole bunch of assets ranging from backgrounds to sprites and even menus, the game's foundation is laid now as well, to the point that we're getting really close to the release of a first demo!

That's really what most of our energy went into this year. We did pull off a few other things too, though.

For instance, after all this time, we now have our own website, which we launched back in June along with the GENBA announcement. It still requires more work and I really want to finally expand the sections for GENBA and WWH as well as add some other things to it, but that will be one of my goals for early 2018.

Outside of that (after an eternal back and forth), we have also decided to launch a Patreon page, which we did back in September. Through this, we hope to get enough funds together to eventually hire more people for our tiny team. At the moment, however, it's main purpose is to help us with covering the costs of GENBA's soundtrack.

Now, you might wonder, what exactly you'll get in return for supporting us on Patreon. Well, here's a quick list of everything you currently get access to:

- 3 character design sketches for the suspects appearing in GENBA - design sketches for Kenji and Misaki, 2 of the new characters in WWH - 3 full-length BGM tracks for GENBA - a look at the full script of GENBA's prologue - the first part of WWH's prologue - a post featuring unused BBD art + talk about visual clues - higher resolution & alternate versions of seasonal artworks + a whole bunch of WIP-looks

Things patrons can look forward to in the coming weeks: the final suspect character for GENBA, WWH's first BGM track, the second part of its script and more character designs. You'll also be able to decide through a poll who will be featured in February's Valentine's artwork. And, last but not least, early access to our GENBA demo!

Patreon is really about getting to see things way ahead of everyone else and being able to influence the stuff we do by offering suggestions. Patrons will be able to help us prepare the demo for its public release, for example.

Another thing I want to use Patreon for, however, is to post more WIP-stuff and other things I've always been way too shy and embarrassed about to share publicly. One big other thing patrons can look forward to, for example, is a post about our very first VN project which never got released. I will talk a bit more about how we got started and share with you some very old assets to give you an actual look at our early work from way back in 2011.

So yeah, if you're curious about those kinds of things, please consider checking out our Patreon page. Your support would be greatly appreciated!

I'd actually like to take this opportunity to once again thank everyone who has supported us thus far, whether it'd be through Patreon or any other means.

Throughout this year, we had some incredible things happen. From something as simple as getting new reviews on Steam to even receiving fan mail, both digitally as well as physically. It still feels strange and very surreal to think that some people actually enjoyed SHINRAI that much. People have even asked about possible merchandise, which is kind of shocking to me. But I guess that will be something to look into in 2018.

One of the greatest compliments I have received this year, however, is that SHINRAI actually inspired others to go forth and make their own stories. That's quite touching to hear and... I dunno... like I said, it's surreal. Sometimes it's really difficult to believe that this isn't just a dream. Because these are the kinds of things I have dreamed about for the longest time. For a big chunk of my life, actually.

Really, I'm deeply grateful for all the support we have gotten. People going out of their way to leave us a good review or even send us a message simply to show their appreciation... things like that truly make me happy and I couldn't ask for more. And they certainly serve to fuel our passion. I hope that all of you will continue to stick with us until our next projects come out, no matter how long it will take!

Which I guess brings me to the final point: what's in store for 2018?

Well, like I said before, our main focus will lie on finishing that GENBA demo. It was already supposed to be released in late November, which didn't quite work out. And although not much is missing anymore, we didn't make too much progress on it in December. Which is mostly due to the fact that December is always a really busy month. Aside of a lot of RL stuff, we had to take care of the seasonal artworks and... I admittedly decided to rather devote myself to WWH, simply because I was in the right mood for it. And while I plan to continue work on WWH, I will definitely get back to that demo now, too.

When will GENBA be finished in its entirety? That's a good question. To be honest, I was hoping to release it in 2018, but it's always difficult to assess whether or not that will work out. I can't foresee what kind of hurdles we might stumble into or how long exactly certain tasks might take. That said, I still want to make it my goal to finish GENBA in 2018.

Please keep in mind though that whenever I set goals such as this (even the demo release for late November), it's more of a way to motivate myself rather than me making an actual promise. Might sound like a lame excuse, but... I know that, even if I don't manage to make the deadline, I will still do my best to actually meet it, resulting in more progress than I would achieve otherwise.

If I tell myself that releasing GENBA in 2018 is impossible, so I'll just say 2019... I will make a lot less progress on it, because I'll have that "there's still time"-feeling in the back of my mind. That's why I think it's always important to set personal goals and work towards them as hard as you can. Whether or not you actually manage to reach those goals doesn't really matter as much as the amount of progress you have made once their deadline hits.

Of course, those goals should still be somewhat realistic, so that you can actually feel as though they're perfectly possible to reach. There is no point in purposely setting completely unrealistic goals. That might actually be more detrimental to your work ethic than anything else. But finishing GENBA in 2018 seems doable to me, so I do want to work towards that. Just don't be mad at me please if it doesn't work out after all, haha.

Anyway, this is starting to get a tad too long, so I should finally wrap this up. I will talk more specifically about our January goals in next week's blog post. Until then, please take care and have a happy new year!

And once again, from both Natsu and myself: thank you so much for your interest in the things we do!

[shannrussell-blog1]

I love hiking in Australia. There’s just something about the Australian bush. It’s lack of uniformity, maybe? It’s the maverick of the floral world. And we mustn’t forget that Australia is a very old, geologically and culturally important place. When we hike, we pass through history.

One of Australia’s most popular and acclaimed hiking tracks, The Overland Track, has long been on my to-hike list. A different world, and probably as far from what I am used to hiking in South Australia. But you know what, it seems the closer I get to tick it off my list, the further along it gets moved. Every time I get the urge to head for Tasmania I end up booking a plane ticket to New Zealand.

Disloyalty maybe, but despite having already spent about 15 weeks in total tramping in New Zealand, there is so much more that I want to do and I find myself struggling to head to Tasmania instead.

Both Tasmania and New Zealand do lush forests and colourful mushrooms really well!

Tassie vs New Zealand

Everyone I speak to who has travelled to Tasmania from the mainland to hike The Overland, Three Capes, or South Coast Tracks says one thing: “It’s expensive but fantastic/well worth it/the best thing I ever did!”. No doubt Tasmania differs from New Zealand in its types of spectacularness nor do we need to perform a comparison to work out which one is ‘better’.

From everything I have seen and know about walking in Tasmania suggests that it is awe inspiring. However, I contend that if you want a bang for your buck and a real backcountry experience, hop on a plane and head for The Land Of The Long White Cloud.

Cost to get there

Believe it or not, it’s potentially cheaper to fly to Christchurch from Adelaide, than to Hobart or Launceston. Let me show you.

For the sake of this comparison, the pretend trip will take place from 22 January to 1 February 2017. This is 11 days in total and should be enough time to enjoy The Overland or a multi-day backcountry tramp or two around Arthur’s Pass. It also takes into account the timetable of the Tassielink, a popular public transport option out to Cradle Mountain, the start of The Overland Track.

The cost of a return flight to do The Overland, flying Adelaide to Launceston and Hobart to Adelaide is around $400 at the time of writing*. The cost of a return flight to tramp the South Island of New Zealand, flying Adelaide to Christchurch return is $450.

Both flights arrive late in the day with shuttles out to the tracks the next day, Monday**, getting you to Cradle Mountain by 11:20 am ($155 return from Lake St Claire to Hobart) with Tassielink and to Arthurs Pass by 10 am ($80 return) with Atomic Shuttles.

This is near Mueller Hut, near Mt Cook on the South Island of NZ. No need to pay national park fees to access this part of the world. 

Fees for hiking the tracks

To hike The Overland Track there is a $200 Overland Track Fee and a $30 Lake St Claire Ferry.)

There is no cost to access and enjoy New Zealand national parks. The only fee applicable to tramping non-Great Walk tracks is for Backcountry Hut Tickets or a Backcountry Hut Pass. For the sake of this comparison, and even if you were staying in ‘Serviced’ huts every night, you’d pay only $15 per day for 6 days of tramping that’s $90. Along with flights, transport to and from Arthur’s Pass, that’s a total of $620.

*I used Skyscanner to check the prices of flights, and it’s based on a solo traveller and the cheapest economy seat plus checked baggage. 

**One thing I noticed in preparing an itinerary to do The Overland is the lack of public transport options to the start of the track (Cradle Mountain) and from the finish (Lake St Claire). There are a number of private shuttle operators that will get you to the track (McDermott’s, Outdoor Tasmania).

Time & Distance

Despite Arthur’s Pass being in a totally different country, you could potentially be taking your first steps on a track in less time than on The Overland. This would be different if you flew into Tasmania early and hired a car. But that would be tricky, as it’s a one-way track – it starts at Cradle Mountain and finishes at Lake St Claire.

The first hut/camping spot on The Overland is Waterfall Valley. If you start hiking as soon as you arrive in Cradle Mountain you’ll get there by around 5-6pm. The first hut on the Harman Pass Route in the Arthur’s Pass National Park, if this is the tramp you choose, is Carrington Hut which you’ll reach by 4-5pm.

So, despite NZ being 3,200km from Adelaide, it’s possibly quicker to start hiking, once the logistics of it all are considered than it would if you only headed 1,200km south-east. Don’t want to do the Harman? There are dozens of other tracks to hike in the region.

Popularity of the Overland Track

The Overland Track, being a ‘Great Walk’ is rigid in its rules. During the peak season, you must book, you must walk in one direction, and only 60 people can depart Cradle Mountain each day. Because of this, the track can be busy, and the campsites at night crowded.

No doubt it’s for good reason that it gets so busy – the scenery and experience is worth it. But this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. In my experience, the tracks around Arthur’s Pass are much quieter.

The Avalanche Peak Track, directly behind the village, is a popular day hike with dozens if not hundreds of people hiking it on a nice day, but the more remote backcountry tracks really make you feel like you have the place to yourself.

The markers leading up to Avalanche Peak. Leave Adelaide on Sunday morning. You could be standing right here at 2 pm the next day.

Popularity of Avalanche Peak

In 2009, I tramped from the village to Avalanche Peak then down the other side into the Crow River Valley. The track up to the peak was alive with tourists. I saw maybe 30 people all day. But as I descended the peak toward Crow Hut, I didn’t see another soul until I arrived at the surprise of two lovebirds thinking they had the hut to themselves. Sorry, Sarah and Bruno!

They left early, and I didn’t see another person until I got to the Klondyke Corner the next afternoon. From which I hitch-hiked back to the village. (A nice two-dayer to start a month of tramping around the country.)

I must add, with the increasing popularity of the Te Araroa Trail (which takes trampers from the top of the North Island all the way to the bottom of the South Island, some 3000km), many of the previously quiet non-Great Walk tracks have picked up a notch.

So, you will sometimes find a 24-bunker filled to the rafters. A peril of there being no booking system. Managing these numbers is something the Department of Conservation is actively working on.

Comparing them both

Yeah, I realise this piece isn’t exactly comparing apples with apples. The Overland has more in common with a NZ ‘Great Walk’ like the Milford Track than the not-so-popular Harman Pass or Edwards-Hawdon Route. However, the backcountry huts around Arthur’s Pass are quite similar to those on The Overland. As is much of the other trail infrastructure.

Outside of Australia’s ‘Great Walks’ like The Overland, Three Capes, the new Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail, and even the Bibbulmun, hikers infrastructure is light on.

A multi-day hike will usually stitch together many shorter tracks, and often doesn’t venture that far into the backcountry. Or, requires a tent, a pack full of water, and a sense of self-sufficiency.

Rees Saddle on the Rees Dart Track. The trailhead is about an hour out of the adventure capital of New Zealand, Queenstown. 

I guess what I am getting at  is that I believe New Zealand offers cheaper, more accessible multi-day, genuinely ‘wilderness’ hiking opportunities than most of Australia. And this is what has kept me going back time and time again.

I like huts, I like having access to water so I don’t have to carry a heavy pack. I like to immerse myself in the backcountry with the promise of some basic facilities at the end of each day. And this is why the New Zealand wilderness is so popular I suppose. It’s accessible. More people can do it. The barrier to entry is lower. Just trying to get to The Overland Track is an adventure in itself!

And this is why the New Zealand wilderness is so popular I suppose. It’s accessible. More people can do it. The barrier to entry is lower. Just trying to get to The Overland Track is an adventure in itself!

Have you ever visited New Zealand? How did it compare to hiking on home soil?

The post Forget The Overland, Tramp New Zealand Instead appeared first on Snowys Blog.

[emilyzh2019-blog]

What’s the Best Time to Visit Iceland?

When To Visit Iceland

Learn the best time to visit Iceland this year with tips for traveling during the summer high season, the winter low season, and when to see the northern lights.

Iceland’s long days of sunlight and warm weather conditions convince most people to visit Iceland during the spring and summer months (May – September).

But the best time to go to Iceland really depends on what you want from your trip. Iceland is a popular vacation destination year-round for different reasons.

In this travel guide, I’ll help you to figure out when is the best time to visit Iceland for a Golden Circle road trip, to see the northern lights, when to see wildlife, how to experience Icelandic wildflowers, or when to avoid the crowds in the off-season.

I’ll also go over some of the best seasonal attractions, festivals, and highlights in Iceland depending on which months you’re planning to be there!

My Favorite Time To Visit Iceland

Personally, after multiple trips to the country, my favorite time to visit Iceland is during the shoulder season in autumn (fall).

The months of September and October are especially good times to visit.

Fall is a Wonderful Time to Visit!

Why Visit In The Fall?

By mid-September, many people’s “summer vacations” are over, and most of the tourists have gone home. Certainly not all, but a majority of them. It’s less crowded.

You’ll still find plenty of tourists at Iceland’s most popular attractions, but it’s more manageable in the autumn. Fall is also a great time to save money on hotels in Iceland (because they aren’t cheap!)

Iceland’s incredible Northern Lights (aurora borrelias) start to become more visible and frequent in late September and early October too.

You can also still drive around the Icelandic highlands via remote F-Roads, which usually get closed by October as the first snow storms hit.

Camping in September for Northern Lights Season in Iceland

Best Time For Northern Lights

Technically, the Northern Lights in Iceland can be seen from September through April. But September – October and February – March, particularly around the equinoxes – are the best months to see this spectacular natural light show. For a detailed guide on how to find and photograph the northern lights, click here.

Best Season For Photography

While I’m of the opinion that you’ll get great photos in Iceland no matter what season you visit, each has its own benefits. The autumn and winter light is particularly spectacular, as the sun stays low to the horizon throughout the day while sunsets and sunrises can last for hours. Plus, the northern lights of course.

Good Months For Whale Watching

Whale watching season in Iceland happens from April to October. But the peak season for whales is June, July, and August. Tours are available from Reykjavik, the Vestmannaeyjar Islands, and Akureyri.

When Is The Best Weather?

The best time to visit Iceland for great weather is during the summer high season. July and August have average highs around 13°C (55°F) however temperatures can be as high 20°C (68°F). Surprisingly, the spring months of May and June have the least amount of rain.

Best Season To Save Money

Hotels, airfare, tours, and car rentals in Iceland are cheapest during the winter months (November, December, January, February) — aside from the holidays. Everything is more expensive in the summer (July & August). For the best combination low prices and decent weather, go during the shoulder seasons: May – June or September – October.

Best Time To Avoid Crowds

Iceland has become incredibly popular over the last few years. If you’re trying to avoid the crowds, avoid visiting Iceland during the summer months of June – August. Winter has the fewest tourists, but also the coldest temperatures.

High & Low Seasons in Iceland

High & Low Seasons In Iceland

Visiting Iceland In The Summer: June – August (High Season)

Iceland’s warmest peak season sees hoards of tourists arrive in Reykjavik to take advantage of almost 24-hour sunlight. This is the warmest period to explore the country’s landscapes.

From late May to late July, Iceland’s famous midnight sun means there are almost 21 hours of daylight, from about 3am until midnight. The phenomenon peaks on June 21st, the summer solstice.

Most of the country’s popular attractions are open during the summer, and it also has the best driving conditions for a road trip. But it’s also the most crowded time to visit. Especially in July & August, the absolute peak of high season.

Summer Weather Conditions By Month

JUNE Average Rain: 36mm Average Low: 7ºC/44ºF Average High: 12ºC/53ºF

JULY Average Rain: 60mm Average Low: 8ºC/47ºF Average High: 13ºC/56ºF

AUGUST Average Rain: 118mm Average Low: 8ºC/47ºF Average High: 13ºC/56ºF

Pro’s Of Visiting In The Summer

All attractions are open

More daylight time to explore

Iceland’s best weather conditions

Con’s Of Visiting In The Summer

Overcrowded attractions

Higher prices for accommodation and car rentals

It can be hard to sleep with constant sunlight

USEFUL TIP: One way to avoid summer crowds is to sleep during the day and go sightseeing at night when everyone else is in bed, because the sun often doesn’t set until midnight and rises again at 3am!

Packing For Iceland In The Summer

Although many Icelandic locals will tell you that their summer season is nice and warm, they probably don’t have the same definition for ‘warm’ as you do!

Bring a hat, scarf and gloves just in case, it’s better to be over prepared than not being able to feel your fingers. You may also want to pack a sleep mask for the midnight sun. Especially if you’re camping in a tent!

Top Iceland Highlights In Summer

WHALE WATCHING – Animal lovers flock to Iceland during summer months to witness more than 20 different species of whales including humpbacks and orcas. Akureyri and Reykjavik are good places to go whale watching.

PUFFIN SPOTTING – Summer in Iceland is the best time of year to see some of the 8 million Puffin birds which nest in the sea cliffs. Many settle in Vestmannaeyjar and the Látrabjarg Cliffs in Westfjords from late April until mid-August.

MIDNIGHT SUN – To witness the Midnight Sun, aim to visit Iceland during the summer solstice on June 21st, the longest day of the year. In some parts of the country the sun never actually sets! It simply hits the horizon and starts to rise again.

HIKING & CAMPING – Some of Iceland’s best hiking is located in the highlands, the center part of the country. To access these remote areas, you need to drive on Iceland’s “F-Roads” which are only open from June to late September.

ROAD TRIPS – There’s nothing like a good road trip driving past geothermal areas, roaring waterfalls, or massive glaciers on Iceland’s Ring Road or the Golden Circle. Summer months provide the best driving conditions for these routes.

Fun Summer Festivals In Iceland

Iceland National Day

Secret Solstice Festival

International Viking Festival

Iceland in the Fall (My Favorite Time to Visit!)

Visiting Iceland In The Autumn: September – October (Shoulder Season)

The autumn season in Iceland begins in September and stays until late October, with colder weather creeping in more and more each day. You’ll find that accommodation and flight prices start to decline as the daylight hours get shorter too.

If you’re hoping to catch the first snowfall of the year, October is your best bet. If you’re really lucky, you might even spot the Northern Lights in late autumn too. The wind can start to get stronger, making it feel colder than it really is.

Iceland is covered in stunning autumn colors of oranges and reds, plus the rain brings a distinctive smell to the air. You’ll also spot migratory birds as they prepare to move elsewhere for the winter months.

Fall Weather Conditions By Month

SEPTEMBER Average Rain: 110mm Average Low: 5ºC/41ºF Average High: 10ºC/50ºF

OCTOBER Average Rain: 155mm Average Low: 2ºC/36ºF Average High: 7ºC/45ºF

Pro’s Of Visiting In Autumn

Attractions & hotels are often cheaper

Less tourists, overcrowding

Northern lights being to appear

Con’s Of Visiting In Autumn

Less daylight hours to explore

The weather gets colder

Packing For Iceland In The Autumn

Strong winds and rain is more frequent in the autumn, so be prepared for all weather conditions. From September to October, windproof and waterproof clothes are essential and wearing layers will help you stay on top of the ever-changing temperatures.

Freak snowstorms can also happen too, so wear comfortable footwear, pack a windproof & waterproof jacket, warm extra layers, and bring a winter hat and gloves just in case.

Top Iceland Highlights In The Autumn

FORAGING – This is the best time to go mushroom or berry-picking in the Icelandic countryside. During the autumn months, you can find and pick wild blueberries, strawberries, redcurrants and crowberries in Iceland.

EXPLORE F-ROADS – September is the last month you can still drive Iceland’s rugged & remote F-Roads that lead to the interior central highlands. Once the winter snows start in October (sometimes late September) they are no longer maintained, and only highly-modified super jeeps can attempt them.

GLACIER HIKING – Once you are kitted out by a tour company with crampons, a harness, ice ax, and a helmet — you can begin your glacier hiking adventure! Solheimajokull Glacier is one of Iceland’s most famous glaciers to hike, only about 2-hours from Reykjavik.

NATURAL HOT SPRINGS – Icelanders love to swim outside in all seasons, and fall is a great time to experience some of the many natural hot springs that dot the Icelandic landscape.

Fun Fall Festivals In Iceland

Reykjavik International Film Festival

Iceland Airwaves

Halloween

Visiting Iceland in the Winter

Visiting Iceland In The Winter: November – March (Low Season)

Even with the cold & snow, there are many advantages of traveling in Iceland during the winter. With fewer tourists visiting between October and April, you’ll find many hotels for a fraction of the high season cost.

If you’re visiting Iceland on a budget, winter is also the best time of year to find cheap flights, car rentals and tours. Although camping is a bit more complicated.

One of the downsides of visiting Iceland in the winter are icy driving conditions. The main roads are usually plowed quickly though.

There’s much less daylight too, only 4 – 6 hours depending on the month, with only 3 hours of sunlight during the winter solstice (around December 21st). Which can be great if you’re hunting Northern Lights though!

Winter Weather Conditions By Month

NOVEMBER Average Rain: 110mm Average Low: -1.5ºC/29ºF Average High: 3.5ºC/38ºF

DECEMBER Average Rain: 119mm Average Low: -3ºC/27ºF Average High: 2ºC/35ºF

JANUARY Average Rain: 129mm Average Low: -3ºC/27ºF Average High: 2ºC/35ºF

FEBRUARY Average Rain: 106mm Average Low: -2ºC/28ºF Average High: 3ºC/37ºF

MARCH Average Rain: 116mm Average Low: -2ºC/28ºF Average High: 3ºC/38ºF

Pro’s Of Visiting In Winter

Save money on hotels, flights, and rental cars

Fewer crowds, less tourists

Best time for the northern lights

Cons’s Of Visiting In Winter

Slippery winter driving conditions

Many attractions are closed

Less daylight hours to explore

Packing For Iceland In The Winter

We’ve all heard the saying “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing”. Keep this in mind when packing for Iceland in winter. Although the temperature might not be as cold as you expect, the winter winds can make it feel a lot colder, so you’ll definitely need to dress warmly.

Iceland is famous for its thick handknitted wool sweaters – so pick one up if you plan to be out in the elements. On top of this, you should pack waterproof gloves, thermal socks, winter boots and the warmest hat you can find (furry ear-flaps are a plus!)

Everything in your suitcase should either be thermal, waterproof or windproof when traveling through Iceland in the winter.

Visit the Blue Lagoon in Winter!

Top Iceland Highlights In The Winter

Due to winter weather conditions and fewer visitors, you may find that some of Iceland’s attractions are closed during this time of year, but there are still plenty of things to do.

NORTHERN LIGHTS – Winter is the best time to see the northern lights in Iceland. While they’re visible for 8 months of the year, the shorter days of winter give you the best opportunities to witness this natural phenomenon.

CRYSTAL ICE CAVES – Iceland’s blue glacier ice caves can only be explored during the winter months, starting in November, when they become safe to enter. During the spring and summer many of these magical caves often collapse (when you don’t want to be inside!)

EPIC PHOTOGRAPHY – Even though it’s the darkest time of year, the sun doesn’t go down without a fight. Winter sunrises and sunsets can last for hours, featuring a beautiful golden glow over the country’s dramatic landscapes. Accentuated colors over the mountains provide the perfect backdrop for landscape photographers.

THE BLUE LAGOON – Winter is the perfect time to visit Iceland’s most famous attraction, The Blue Lagoon, located about 30 minutes away from Keflavik Airport. Along with fewer crowds, the steam rising from the warm mineral waters during the winter is very cool!

SUPER JEEP TOURS – Iceland has massive 4X4 vehicles called “super jeeps” with lifted suspensions and oversized tires to travel over deep snow and across glacier rivers. The only way to visit the remote central highlands during the winter is by traveling in one!

Purple Lupine Flowers in Vik

Visiting Iceland In The Spring: April – June (Shoulder Season)

The spring season is short and sweet, arriving later than many people think. While your chances of catching the Northern Lights starts to diminish in early April, you’ll be arriving just in time to witness the blooming of some of Iceland’s most beautiful flowers.

The most famous of which is the violet Lupin flowers, which come to light in late May and spread across the Icelandic landscape, creating the perfect backdrop for the many travel photographers who visit every year.

This is also the best time to visit some of Iceland’s many waterfalls, as the melting snow and ice create new streams of water through the rocky landscapes.

Spring Weather Conditions By Month

APRIL Average Rain: 70mm Average Low: 0.5ºC/33ºF Average High: 5.5ºC/42ºF

MAY Average Rain: 63mm Average Low: 3.5ºC/39ºF Average High: 9.5ºC/49ºF

JUNE Average Rain: 36mm Average Low: 7ºC/44ºF Average High: 12ºC/53ºF

Pros Of Visiting In Spring

Affordable accommodation and rental cars

Daylight hours increase after the winter months

Wildflower season begins

Cons Of Visiting In Spring

Winter weather may not be over yet

Long days of sunlight mean no northern lights

Packing For Iceland In The Spring

Similar to the autumn months, you can expect to find all 4 seasons in one day during the spring, so you need to be prepared for whatever the weather throws at you.

Comfortable footwear and warm clothes are a must, and they should also be windproof and waterproof. No matter what time of the year, I always recommend packing layers for Iceland.

The Famous Iceberg Lagoon!

Top Iceland Highlights In The Spring

As the winter weather dies down and the evenings become brighter, many of Iceland’s most popular attractions reopen for spring and summer.

If you are a nature lover, this is also a fantastic time of year to visit as Iceland’s landscapes come into full bloom with wildflowers!

JOKULSARLON GLACIER LAGOON – The massive glacier at the top of this cold lake begins to melt as the temperature increases, resulting in huge icebergs breaking off into the water. Spring is the best time to see all the fresh icebergs floating out to sea.

PURPLE LUPINE FLOWERS – Nootka Lupine, also known as Alaskan Lupine, is an invasive species of purple wildflower that has taken over Iceland. Fields of purple lupine make for some amazing photos when they bloom in mid-June.

PUFFIN SPOTTING – Summer in Iceland is the best time of year to see some of the 8 million Puffin birds which nest in the sea cliffs. Many settle in Vestmannaeyjar and the Látrabjarg Cliffs in Westfjords from late April until mid-August.

SNORKELING BETWEEN CONTINENTS – Snorkeling this water-filled crack called Silfra between the North American and Eurasian continental plates during spring is a great time to avoid the larger summer crowds.

Fun Spring Festivals In Iceland

First Day Of Summer Festival

Reykjavik Art Festival

Festival Of The Sea

Enjoy Your Trip To Iceland In Any Season!

Well, I hope this guide to Iceland’s weather and seasons will help you better plan your trip to the land of fire and ice. However, I really think that no matter when you decide to visit Iceland, you’ll have an amazing experience! ★

Packing Guide

Check out my travel gear guide to help you start packing for your trip. Pick up a travel backpack, camera gear, and other useful travel accessories.

Book Your Flight

Find cheap flights on Skyscanner. This is my favorite search engine to find deals on airlines. Also make sure to read how I find the cheapest flights.

Rent A Car

Discover Car Hire is a great site for comparing car prices to find the best deal. They search both local & international rental companies. Also read my tips for driving in Iceland.

Book Accommodation

Booking.com is my favorite hotel search engine. Or rent apartments from locals on Airbnb. Read more about how I book cheap hotels online.

Protect Your Trip

Don’t forget travel insurance! I’m a big fan of World Nomads for short-term trips. Protect yourself from possible injury & theft abroad. Read more about why you should always carry travel insurance.

Recommended Guidebook: Lonely Planet Iceland Suggested Reading: The Little Book Of Hidden People

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READ MORE FROM ICELAND

Where To Stay In Iceland Rental Car Driving Tips For Iceland How To Self-Drive The Ring Road 25 Strange Facts About Iceland!

Are you planning a trip to Iceland? Do you have any questions about when to visit? Drop me a message in the comments below!

This is a post from The Expert Vagabond adventure blog.

[health-alphabet]

ORCHID PHALAENOPSIS: HOW TO CARE ALL THE YEAR ROUND

ORCHID PHALAENOPSIS: HOW TO CARE ALL THE YEAR ROUND.

January Watering Phalaenopsis significantly reduced, so in the summer as plants consume less water. This is because in winter the days are shorter than summer. If irrigation mode is not correct regarding the time of year, it is possible waterlogging and the occurrence of fungal diseases. Even on Sunny days, watering is additionally not recommended. If the house has Central heating, try to increase the humidity, placing water containers on radiators. If we do not do, then the plants will suffer from the negative effects of dry air.

February The phase of winter dormancy is now over. You can gradually increase watering. This month you can interested in, which will host the exhibition of orchids, where one can buy a Mature plant or baby interested a hybrid. In the beginning of the season you can start to find interesting accessories for Opx and supply of substrate. Metridia Care ha orchids in the first month of spring increases. The first thing you notice is that the plants were not under the scorching rays. They are not accustomed to it and can get burns. Will audit the flowers: if the plant has outgrown its pot and it grew a lot of aerial roots, then start the transplant. If according to the forecast we expect a stable warm weather, watering is corrected under a large amount of water.

April Those plants that are in the same substrate of the 2 years, we need to move to the new one. And those plants that are well grown - divide (e.g. Cattleya). In the spring begin to act uninvited guests - pests, and therefore often inspect plants. To prevent spider mites increase the humidity. Follow proper watering.

May Orchids. How to care for them in the warmer? For plants that grow in cool temperatures, is very relevant: in the beginning of the month take them to fresh air. Plants that remained on the South-facing Windows, shaded from the sun. Young kids that have been growing in containers, transplant to a permanent place of residence. At the end of may have all types of orchids begins active growth, so carefully monitor the humidity raise it with the spraying. May - the last month for planting. Check. the presence of pests.

June If we “Shine” vacation in a timely manner negotiate with someone who can look after orchids during our absence. If you have the opportunity to collect rainwater for irrigation - do it. It promotes the growth of strong roots. Do not allow too long of drying the substrate from orchids, especially during flowering.

July This summer months require special care orchids that grow outdoors. Follow their regular watering, because the sun and wind they dry out especially fast. Also try a thick pritenyat from direct sunlight, to avoid burns of leaves. On rainy days, pots with flowers moving under the roof.

Avgstride This month we begin to move plants into the house. They are, after a week of quarantine (inspection for pests), should already be in their permanent places of residence. During this period the plants are very useful spraying. If we're going to be away from home for a few days - swap. a meter from the window. In addition to spraying every 10 days to arrange our fauna shower.

September The last month for transplanting. If we brought pots with a flower from the street and not going to be transplanted to the new substrate, put in each planter means for fighting snails. Watering in September begin to reduce.

October Care during this autumn period is highlighted plants. Watering should be reduced and to rarely (this will help lay the future of the kidneys). By visiting the exhibition, you can see autumn-flowering orchids. Again and again we examine plants for presence of pests of orchids.

November During this period. in need of cool content and additional lighting. Watering reduced to a minimum! Do not forget to prevent the plants from spider mites.

December If you gave us or we bought the Orchid, the home, transport is Packed all the rules and preferably in the car. Buy flowers buds, which has already gained color but not yet open. For irrigation use warm (not hot!) water. In the axils of the leaves of a Phalaenopsis should not stagnate water, excess moisture can be dried with a cloth. Draw your attention once again that caring for orchids is based more on prevention rather than cure them. This means that beauty - an Orchid needs attention and care. I hope my tips are useful to you.

[charlieharry1]

5 Trends shaping the automobile enterprise

The automotive enterprise was already impacted by way of an unprecedented disruption before the coronavirus. Running with car manufacturers during the last few years, we’ve seen shared mobility, driverless motors, and electric powered cars shake up the enterprise, so expertise a way to adapt during difficult instances isn't always a brand new mission. Here’s what’s one-of-a-kind: covid-19 is accelerating tendencies in the automotive enterprise that were already underway however had now not  Digital Marketing Companies Cambridge but been broadly followed. Those will in all likelihood end up the brand new everyday whilst operations reopen. Car manufacturers seeking to role themselves for restoration will need to adapt to quicker enterprise cycles and shorter planning horizons. They’ll also want to prioritise projects which are high-quality aligned with in which the industry is headed, such as operationalising home transport or in addition digitising the automotive buy procedure. To assist automobile marketers prepare for what’s beforehand, we’ve recognized 5 key trends to maintain in mind. 1. Humans are locating consolation in automobile ownership

amid a nearly complete halt to ordinary modes of transportation, from flying to journey sharing, we’re starting to see a upward thrust in purchasers’ preference for their very own non-public mode of transportation. The private areas wherein people discover consolation consist of their houses and their very own motors. A examine from ipsos in early march indicates that, in china, humans’s attitudes closer to vehicle possession, public transportation, and mobility answers like trip hailing have shifted inside the wake of the pandemic. Usage of personal or personal vehicles almost doubled after the outbreak, whilst reliance on public transportation has fallen via more than half, with taxis and experience hailing each seeing massive declines in usage. With commuters inside the u.k Depending less on public transportation and experience-sharing services, ninety three% of human beings said they may be the usage of private motors greater. 2 but among humans surveyed in china who do not own a vehicle, maximum spoke back that they intend to purchase a automobile for health and protection reasons. 3 and we are seeing this shift play out in the u.k A recent automobiles. Com survey reported that 20% of respondents who didn’t personal their very own automobile were considering shopping one. 

Read Also:-  What strategy you can use to create content during the COVID-19 pandemic?

 2. Human beings anticipate to find vehicle offers

automobile consumers want to understand if now could be the time for a automobile purchase, and in that case, can they rating a good deal. Seek hobby for “is it a great time to shop for a vehicle” grew more than 9x among january and february of 2020 and march and april of 2020. Savvy car shoppers have more and more grew to become to virtual to examine models and charges, but now deals matter more than ever. U.K-primarily based seek hobby for ‘is it a good time to buy a automobile

 fee is constantly an influential factor for auto consumers, so it’s no surprise that present day deals offered by way of automakers are heightening people’s interest in what’s accessible. Seek quantity for great automobile deals and truck deals has grown 70% globally from march 22, 2020, to march 28, 2020, versus march 15 to march 21 of the equal 12 months. 6

 and offers may want to velocity the direction to buy, as car buyers see zero% annual percentage price financing and coins discounts because the most powerful influencers of expediting their car buy. 7 automakers have responded with financing offers like no-hobby financing for 72 to eighty four months, however have additionally moved to assist customers who need help with their bills by using supplying no-penalty price deferments. As an example, hyundai had the no. 1 advert for the week of march 30, 2020, with a context-suitable spot about hyundai warranty, a software that covers bills for up to 6 months if a customer loses their task this yr due to covid-19. Eight

 three. Human beings want the dealer experience towards domestic

as client research an increasing number of movements on line, u.k Seek hobby for “dealership close to me” dropped extra than 20% in march 2020 versus february 2020. 9 but human beings still want to engage with motors as they would on a dealership lot. They just want that revel in to be in the direction of home. Vehicle shoppers ranked the following sports with the aid of preference as good alternatives to a provider go to:10

 at-home test drive

review movies

digital showroom

online configurator

vr test force

videoconference

before the pandemic, automobile shoppers had been turning to youtube to revel in virtual test drives. The significance of that trend is even more given current shelter-in-place policies. Brands that want capability consumers to engage with particular models ought to don't forget highlighting video content of indoors overviews, walk arounds, take a look at drives, and assessment videos. Four. Human beings need on-line car shopping for and at-domestic delivery

automakers have fast shifted from offline-only transactions to meeting consumers’ choice for digitising all steps of the purchase adventure. Ninety- percentage of auto consumers already research on-line, and we’re now seeing the whole vehicle shopping for journey — through purchase and delivery — follow a similar trajectory. Eleven

 while dealers earlier than covid-19 had been capable of provide car transport, most effective a very small quantity have the web skills to execute a full vehicle sale on line. Moreover, even as the purchase adventure itself is going on on line, the acquisition nevertheless occurs offline. At-home test drives and automobile transport were tied as the no 1 alternative to visiting a car dealership for vehicle consumers. 12

 at a time when social regulations associated with the pandemic are impacting customer behaviour, growing strategies for a way to meet client call for for on line shopping for and at-domestic delivery could make a massive effect: 18% of auto consumers would purchase a car faster if they may buy the car they wanted without going to a dealership. 13

 5. People are tuning in to virtual activities

as circumstances have required postponing or canceling automobile indicates and huge meetings, some original gadget manufacturers are delaying automobile launches, while others are moving to fully online launches for new cars. That is an intensive shift for an enterprise used to sleek, in-man or woman rollout occasions. Hyundai, as an instance, unveiled its 2021 elantra in early march thru a stay circulate. Leveraging video content material that helped deliver its features to life, hyundai captured the hobby of visitors looking from the protection in their houses. The preliminary tease video, stay movement, and walk-around clip garnered nearly 800,000 combined views. For vehicle brands rethinking live occasions inside the near term, remember this guide for assist. The pandemic has modified enterprise as we knew it. And whilst we will’t expect the destiny, those shifts in purchaser behaviour are probable to persist. As automakers shift to transferring steel  Digital Marketing Company in Bristol again, knowledge patron expectations, in addition to the brand new approaches people shop and buy, can be crucial to achievement.

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[mikebrackett]

Retail Sales Surge While Housing Starts Fall Off – Market Update

I hope everyone had a good holiday if you were celebrating! My family was in town, so it was a good weekend. Detroit is abuzz because a local legend is coming back to be the general manager of the Red Wings. It’s early, but hope springs anew that Hockeytown might soon be restored to its former glory.

We’ll have to see if retail sales numbers for April received a bump because of increased activity from our season ticket purchases. It’s a stretch, but I’ve got to do something to spice up the beginning of these articles. Let’s jump into the headlines.

Headline News

Industrial Production

Industrial production numbers fell by 0.1% in March and manufacturing was flat. Meanwhile, capacity utilization in factories fell 0.2% to 78.8%. However, utilization numbers for February were upwardly revised by 0.8% to 79%.

Business equipment was up 0.4% and has risen 3.8% on the year. Businesses are ordering more machinery in order to ramp up production. However, production of consumer goods was down 0.2% and has fallen 0.1% on the year. Meanwhile, manufacturing volumes overall are only up to 1% on the year versus 2.8% for overall industrial production.

Vehicle production also dropped 2.5% on the month and has fallen 4.5% on the year. Meanwhile, growth in the high-tech sector was up 0.2% monthly and 3.5% on the year.

Production in utilities was up 0.2% in March, while mining production fell 0.8%. Despite this, production in the sector is still up 10.5% yearly.

Housing Market Index

In numbers for April, home builder sentiment went up one point to 63, matching expectations. The index has been slowly climbing back from a downturn at the end of the year and recent lower mortgage rates have helped.

Current cells are up a single point to 69, while the outlook for future sales over the next 6 months was down a point at 71. Finally helping the numbers was a three-point increase in the amount of traffic going through new homes at 47. However, this remains a week number.

On a regional basis, the West is in front at 69. Meanwhile, the South is close on its heels at 67. The Midwest and Northeast are a ways off at 53 and 51, respectively.

MBA Mortgage Applications

With interest rates ticking back up slightly, refinance applications were down 8%, and overall applications fell 3.5% despite a 1% uptick in purchase applications.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed conforming mortgage was up four basis points to 4.44%.

International Trade

The U.S. trade deficit decreased by $1.7 billion in February to come in at $49.4 billion. Exports were up 1.1% while imports rose just 0.2%.

Exports of goods were up 1.5% to $139.5 billion. Orders of civilian aircraft were up by $2.2 billion. While that was the big driver, there was also a $600 million increase in exports of monetary gold, and consumer goods exports of food and other farm-based products were down 200 million. However, exports of services were up 0.3% at $70.1 billion.

On the import side, these settled at $259.1 billion overall. Consumer goods imports were up $1.6 billion, and industrial supplies were down $1.2 billion, even accounting for an $800 million rise in oil imports.

Jobless Claims

Initial jobless claims were down 5,000 to come in at 192,000 overall. This brought the 4-week moving average down to 201,250, a decrease of 6,000 on the week.

Meanwhile, on the continuing claims end, these were down 63,000 to 1.653 million. Meanwhile, the 4-week average was down 22,750 to about 1.713 million.

Retail Sales

Retail sales for March were up 1.6%, which was well above analyst expectations. While this is a good thing, gains have also been uneven. The report points out that sales were down 1.6% in December.

Taking out cars and trucks, sales were still up 1.2%. When further removing gas, these were up 0.9%. Finally, sales in the control group were up 1%.

Vehicle sales were up 3.3% in March, while gas station sales were up 3.5% as the cost of fuel rose. Restaurant sales were also up 0.8% and have notched three consecutive monthly gains along with furniture and home stores, up 1.7% in March.

General merchandise sales were up 0.7%, but department store sales were flat and overall merchandise purchases have shown weakness lately.

Housing Starts

Starts were at their weakest points since May 2017, being down 3,000 to 1.139 million on a seasonally adjusted annual basis. However, the changes were worse than that because starts from the month of February were also revised down by 20,000. Starts are down a total of 14.2% on the year.

On the permits side, single-family permits were down 1.1% in March and 5.1% on the year, with the overall permits settling at 1.269 million on an annual basis. Single-family permits were down 5.1% on the year with overall building permits falling 7.8%.

The lone piece of good news is that completions were up 11.9% to 938,000 on the single-family side.

Mortgage Rates

Fixed rates were up a bit last week after several weeks of going lower. Still, if you happen to be in the market to purchase or refinance, they’re still lower than they were last year at this time, so it could be advantageous to lock your rate now.

The average rate for a 30-year-fixed mortgage with 0.5 points paid in fees was up five basis points to 4.17% last week. This is down from 4.47% a year ago.

Meanwhile, on the shorter end of things, the average rate for a 15-year fixed mortgage with 0.5 point was up a couple of basis points to 3.62%. This is down from 3.94% last year.

Finally, the average rate for a 5-year treasury-indexed, hybrid adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) was down two basis points to settle at 3.78% with 0.3 points paid. This is up from 3.67% at the same time in 2018.

Stock Market

Image search and sharing platform Pinterest had its first day on the public stock exchange Friday along with videoconferencing company Zoom. Pinterest shares were up 28% from the offering price to finish the day at $24.40. Meanwhile, shares in Zoom were up 72% to close at $62. These were just a harbinger of a good day for the market in general.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 110 points on the day to close at 26,559.54 up 0.56% on the week. The S&P 500 finished the week down 0.08% after closing at 2,905.03. It was up 4.58 points on the day. Finally, the Nasdaq was up 0.17% on a weekly basis after finishing the day up 1.98 points to close at 7,998.06.

The Week Ahead

Monday, April 22

Existing Home Sales (10:00 a.m. ET) – Existing Home Sales tallies the number of previously constructed homes, condominiums and co-ops that were sold during the month. Existing homes (also known as “home resales”) account for a larger share of the market than new homes and indicate housing market trends.

Tuesday, April 23

FHFA House Price Index (9:00 a.m. ET) – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI) covers single-family housing using data provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The HPI is derived from transactions involving conforming conventional mortgages purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

New Home Sales (10:00 a.m. ET) – This report measures the number of newly constructed homes with a committed sale during the month. This will be the report for January.

Wednesday, April 24

MBA Mortgage Applications (7:00 a.m. ET) – The mortgage applications index measures applications to mortgage lenders. This is a leading indicator for single-family home sales and housing construction.

Thursday, April 25

Durable Goods Orders (8:30 a.m. ET) – These are based on new orders placed with domestic manufacturers for factory goods.

Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m. ET) – New unemployment claims are compiled weekly to show the number of individuals filing for unemployment insurance for the first time. An increasing trend suggests a deteriorating labor market. The 4-week moving average of new claims smooths out weekly volatility.

Friday, April 26

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (8:30 a.m. ET) – This release measures the monetary value of all final goods and services produced within the U.S. This report is released on a quarterly basis.

Consumer Sentiment (10:00 a.m. ET) – The University of Michigan’s Consumer Survey Center questions 500 households each month on their financial conditions and attitudes about the economy. Consumer sentiment is directly related to the strength of consumer spending.

We get both new and existing home sales as well as a look at the overall economy with GDP next week. It’s going to be busy and we’ll have it all covered in Market Update.

Mortgage rates and economic data certainly aren’t everyone’s thing. If you’ve got a craving for something a little less dry, we’ve got plenty of home, money and lifestyle content to share with you if you subscribe to the Zing Blog below. Today is Earth Day, but practical tips on how to conserve and be more mindful of resources are helpful year-round. Here are seven ways to celebrate Earth Day every day. Have a great week!

The post Retail Sales Surge While Housing Starts Fall Off – Market Update appeared first on ZING Blog by Quicken Loans.

from Updates About Loans https://www.quickenloans.com/blog/retail-sales-surge-housing-starts-fall-off-market-update

[aaltjebarisca]

Retail Sales Surge While Housing Starts Fall Off – Market Update

I hope everyone had a good holiday if you were celebrating! My family was in town, so it was a good weekend. Detroit is abuzz because a local legend is coming back to be the general manager of the Red Wings. It’s early, but hope springs anew that Hockeytown might soon be restored to its former glory.

We’ll have to see if retail sales numbers for April received a bump because of increased activity from our season ticket purchases. It’s a stretch, but I’ve got to do something to spice up the beginning of these articles. Let’s jump into the headlines.

Headline News

Industrial Production

Industrial production numbers fell by 0.1% in March and manufacturing was flat. Meanwhile, capacity utilization in factories fell 0.2% to 78.8%. However, utilization numbers for February were upwardly revised by 0.8% to 79%.

Business equipment was up 0.4% and has risen 3.8% on the year. Businesses are ordering more machinery in order to ramp up production. However, production of consumer goods was down 0.2% and has fallen 0.1% on the year. Meanwhile, manufacturing volumes overall are only up to 1% on the year versus 2.8% for overall industrial production.

Vehicle production also dropped 2.5% on the month and has fallen 4.5% on the year. Meanwhile, growth in the high-tech sector was up 0.2% monthly and 3.5% on the year.

Production in utilities was up 0.2% in March, while mining production fell 0.8%. Despite this, production in the sector is still up 10.5% yearly.

Housing Market Index

In numbers for April, home builder sentiment went up one point to 63, matching expectations. The index has been slowly climbing back from a downturn at the end of the year and recent lower mortgage rates have helped.

Current cells are up a single point to 69, while the outlook for future sales over the next 6 months was down a point at 71. Finally helping the numbers was a three-point increase in the amount of traffic going through new homes at 47. However, this remains a week number.

On a regional basis, the West is in front at 69. Meanwhile, the South is close on its heels at 67. The Midwest and Northeast are a ways off at 53 and 51, respectively.

MBA Mortgage Applications

With interest rates ticking back up slightly, refinance applications were down 8%, and overall applications fell 3.5% despite a 1% uptick in purchase applications.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed conforming mortgage was up four basis points to 4.44%.

International Trade

The U.S. trade deficit decreased by $1.7 billion in February to come in at $49.4 billion. Exports were up 1.1% while imports rose just 0.2%.

Exports of goods were up 1.5% to $139.5 billion. Orders of civilian aircraft were up by $2.2 billion. While that was the big driver, there was also a $600 million increase in exports of monetary gold, and consumer goods exports of food and other farm-based products were down 200 million. However, exports of services were up 0.3% at $70.1 billion.

On the import side, these settled at $259.1 billion overall. Consumer goods imports were up $1.6 billion, and industrial supplies were down $1.2 billion, even accounting for an $800 million rise in oil imports.

Jobless Claims

Initial jobless claims were down 5,000 to come in at 192,000 overall. This brought the 4-week moving average down to 201,250, a decrease of 6,000 on the week.

Meanwhile, on the continuing claims end, these were down 63,000 to 1.653 million. Meanwhile, the 4-week average was down 22,750 to about 1.713 million.

Retail Sales

Retail sales for March were up 1.6%, which was well above analyst expectations. While this is a good thing, gains have also been uneven. The report points out that sales were down 1.6% in December.

Taking out cars and trucks, sales were still up 1.2%. When further removing gas, these were up 0.9%. Finally, sales in the control group were up 1%.

Vehicle sales were up 3.3% in March, while gas station sales were up 3.5% as the cost of fuel rose. Restaurant sales were also up 0.8% and have notched three consecutive monthly gains along with furniture and home stores, up 1.7% in March.

General merchandise sales were up 0.7%, but department store sales were flat and overall merchandise purchases have shown weakness lately.

Housing Starts

Starts were at their weakest points since May 2017, being down 3,000 to 1.139 million on a seasonally adjusted annual basis. However, the changes were worse than that because starts from the month of February were also revised down by 20,000. Starts are down a total of 14.2% on the year.

On the permits side, single-family permits were down 1.1% in March and 5.1% on the year, with the overall permits settling at 1.269 million on an annual basis. Single-family permits were down 5.1% on the year with overall building permits falling 7.8%.

The lone piece of good news is that completions were up 11.9% to 938,000 on the single-family side.

Mortgage Rates

Fixed rates were up a bit last week after several weeks of going lower. Still, if you happen to be in the market to purchase or refinance, they’re still lower than they were last year at this time, so it could be advantageous to lock your rate now.

The average rate for a 30-year-fixed mortgage with 0.5 points paid in fees was up five basis points to 4.17% last week. This is down from 4.47% a year ago.

Meanwhile, on the shorter end of things, the average rate for a 15-year fixed mortgage with 0.5 point was up a couple of basis points to 3.62%. This is down from 3.94% last year.

Finally, the average rate for a 5-year treasury-indexed, hybrid adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) was down two basis points to settle at 3.78% with 0.3 points paid. This is up from 3.67% at the same time in 2018.

Stock Market

Image search and sharing platform Pinterest had its first day on the public stock exchange Friday along with videoconferencing company Zoom. Pinterest shares were up 28% from the offering price to finish the day at $24.40. Meanwhile, shares in Zoom were up 72% to close at $62. These were just a harbinger of a good day for the market in general.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 110 points on the day to close at 26,559.54 up 0.56% on the week. The S&P 500 finished the week down 0.08% after closing at 2,905.03. It was up 4.58 points on the day. Finally, the Nasdaq was up 0.17% on a weekly basis after finishing the day up 1.98 points to close at 7,998.06.

The Week Ahead

Monday, April 22

Existing Home Sales (10:00 a.m. ET) – Existing Home Sales tallies the number of previously constructed homes, condominiums and co-ops that were sold during the month. Existing homes (also known as “home resales”) account for a larger share of the market than new homes and indicate housing market trends.

Tuesday, April 23

FHFA House Price Index (9:00 a.m. ET) – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI) covers single-family housing using data provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The HPI is derived from transactions involving conforming conventional mortgages purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

New Home Sales (10:00 a.m. ET) – This report measures the number of newly constructed homes with a committed sale during the month. This will be the report for January.

Wednesday, April 24

MBA Mortgage Applications (7:00 a.m. ET) – The mortgage applications index measures applications to mortgage lenders. This is a leading indicator for single-family home sales and housing construction.

Thursday, April 25

Durable Goods Orders (8:30 a.m. ET) – These are based on new orders placed with domestic manufacturers for factory goods.

Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m. ET) – New unemployment claims are compiled weekly to show the number of individuals filing for unemployment insurance for the first time. An increasing trend suggests a deteriorating labor market. The 4-week moving average of new claims smooths out weekly volatility.

Friday, April 26

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (8:30 a.m. ET) – This release measures the monetary value of all final goods and services produced within the U.S. This report is released on a quarterly basis.

Consumer Sentiment (10:00 a.m. ET) – The University of Michigan’s Consumer Survey Center questions 500 households each month on their financial conditions and attitudes about the economy. Consumer sentiment is directly related to the strength of consumer spending.

We get both new and existing home sales as well as a look at the overall economy with GDP next week. It’s going to be busy and we’ll have it all covered in Market Update.

Mortgage rates and economic data certainly aren’t everyone’s thing. If you’ve got a craving for something a little less dry, we’ve got plenty of home, money and lifestyle content to share with you if you subscribe to the Zing Blog below. Today is Earth Day, but practical tips on how to conserve and be more mindful of resources are helpful year-round. Here are seven ways to celebrate Earth Day every day. Have a great week!

The post Retail Sales Surge While Housing Starts Fall Off – Market Update appeared first on ZING Blog by Quicken Loans.

from Updates About Loans https://www.quickenloans.com/blog/retail-sales-surge-housing-starts-fall-off-market-update

[aaronsniderus]

Retail Sales Surge While Housing Starts Fall Off – Market Update

I hope everyone had a good holiday if you were celebrating! My family was in town, so it was a good weekend. Detroit is abuzz because a local legend is coming back to be the general manager of the Red Wings. It’s early, but hope springs anew that Hockeytown might soon be restored to its former glory.

We’ll have to see if retail sales numbers for April received a bump because of increased activity from our season ticket purchases. It’s a stretch, but I’ve got to do something to spice up the beginning of these articles. Let’s jump into the headlines.

Headline News

Industrial Production

Industrial production numbers fell by 0.1% in March and manufacturing was flat. Meanwhile, capacity utilization in factories fell 0.2% to 78.8%. However, utilization numbers for February were upwardly revised by 0.8% to 79%.

Business equipment was up 0.4% and has risen 3.8% on the year. Businesses are ordering more machinery in order to ramp up production. However, production of consumer goods was down 0.2% and has fallen 0.1% on the year. Meanwhile, manufacturing volumes overall are only up to 1% on the year versus 2.8% for overall industrial production.

Vehicle production also dropped 2.5% on the month and has fallen 4.5% on the year. Meanwhile, growth in the high-tech sector was up 0.2% monthly and 3.5% on the year.

Production in utilities was up 0.2% in March, while mining production fell 0.8%. Despite this, production in the sector is still up 10.5% yearly.

Housing Market Index

In numbers for April, home builder sentiment went up one point to 63, matching expectations. The index has been slowly climbing back from a downturn at the end of the year and recent lower mortgage rates have helped.

Current cells are up a single point to 69, while the outlook for future sales over the next 6 months was down a point at 71. Finally helping the numbers was a three-point increase in the amount of traffic going through new homes at 47. However, this remains a week number.

On a regional basis, the West is in front at 69. Meanwhile, the South is close on its heels at 67. The Midwest and Northeast are a ways off at 53 and 51, respectively.

MBA Mortgage Applications

With interest rates ticking back up slightly, refinance applications were down 8%, and overall applications fell 3.5% despite a 1% uptick in purchase applications.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed conforming mortgage was up four basis points to 4.44%.

International Trade

The U.S. trade deficit decreased by $1.7 billion in February to come in at $49.4 billion. Exports were up 1.1% while imports rose just 0.2%.

Exports of goods were up 1.5% to $139.5 billion. Orders of civilian aircraft were up by $2.2 billion. While that was the big driver, there was also a $600 million increase in exports of monetary gold, and consumer goods exports of food and other farm-based products were down 200 million. However, exports of services were up 0.3% at $70.1 billion.

On the import side, these settled at $259.1 billion overall. Consumer goods imports were up $1.6 billion, and industrial supplies were down $1.2 billion, even accounting for an $800 million rise in oil imports.

Jobless Claims

Initial jobless claims were down 5,000 to come in at 192,000 overall. This brought the 4-week moving average down to 201,250, a decrease of 6,000 on the week.

Meanwhile, on the continuing claims end, these were down 63,000 to 1.653 million. Meanwhile, the 4-week average was down 22,750 to about 1.713 million.

Retail Sales

Retail sales for March were up 1.6%, which was well above analyst expectations. While this is a good thing, gains have also been uneven. The report points out that sales were down 1.6% in December.

Taking out cars and trucks, sales were still up 1.2%. When further removing gas, these were up 0.9%. Finally, sales in the control group were up 1%.

Vehicle sales were up 3.3% in March, while gas station sales were up 3.5% as the cost of fuel rose. Restaurant sales were also up 0.8% and have notched three consecutive monthly gains along with furniture and home stores, up 1.7% in March.

General merchandise sales were up 0.7%, but department store sales were flat and overall merchandise purchases have shown weakness lately.

Housing Starts

Starts were at their weakest points since May 2017, being down 3,000 to 1.139 million on a seasonally adjusted annual basis. However, the changes were worse than that because starts from the month of February were also revised down by 20,000. Starts are down a total of 14.2% on the year.

On the permits side, single-family permits were down 1.1% in March and 5.1% on the year, with the overall permits settling at 1.269 million on an annual basis. Single-family permits were down 5.1% on the year with overall building permits falling 7.8%.

The lone piece of good news is that completions were up 11.9% to 938,000 on the single-family side.

Mortgage Rates

Fixed rates were up a bit last week after several weeks of going lower. Still, if you happen to be in the market to purchase or refinance, they’re still lower than they were last year at this time, so it could be advantageous to lock your rate now.

The average rate for a 30-year-fixed mortgage with 0.5 points paid in fees was up five basis points to 4.17% last week. This is down from 4.47% a year ago.

Meanwhile, on the shorter end of things, the average rate for a 15-year fixed mortgage with 0.5 point was up a couple of basis points to 3.62%. This is down from 3.94% last year.

Finally, the average rate for a 5-year treasury-indexed, hybrid adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) was down two basis points to settle at 3.78% with 0.3 points paid. This is up from 3.67% at the same time in 2018.

Stock Market

Image search and sharing platform Pinterest had its first day on the public stock exchange Friday along with videoconferencing company Zoom. Pinterest shares were up 28% from the offering price to finish the day at $24.40. Meanwhile, shares in Zoom were up 72% to close at $62. These were just a harbinger of a good day for the market in general.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 110 points on the day to close at 26,559.54 up 0.56% on the week. The S&P 500 finished the week down 0.08% after closing at 2,905.03. It was up 4.58 points on the day. Finally, the Nasdaq was up 0.17% on a weekly basis after finishing the day up 1.98 points to close at 7,998.06.

The Week Ahead

Monday, April 22

Existing Home Sales (10:00 a.m. ET) – Existing Home Sales tallies the number of previously constructed homes, condominiums and co-ops that were sold during the month. Existing homes (also known as “home resales”) account for a larger share of the market than new homes and indicate housing market trends.

Tuesday, April 23

FHFA House Price Index (9:00 a.m. ET) – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI) covers single-family housing using data provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The HPI is derived from transactions involving conforming conventional mortgages purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

New Home Sales (10:00 a.m. ET) – This report measures the number of newly constructed homes with a committed sale during the month. This will be the report for January.

Wednesday, April 24

MBA Mortgage Applications (7:00 a.m. ET) – The mortgage applications index measures applications to mortgage lenders. This is a leading indicator for single-family home sales and housing construction.

Thursday, April 25

Durable Goods Orders (8:30 a.m. ET) – These are based on new orders placed with domestic manufacturers for factory goods.

Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m. ET) – New unemployment claims are compiled weekly to show the number of individuals filing for unemployment insurance for the first time. An increasing trend suggests a deteriorating labor market. The 4-week moving average of new claims smooths out weekly volatility.

Friday, April 26

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (8:30 a.m. ET) – This release measures the monetary value of all final goods and services produced within the U.S. This report is released on a quarterly basis.

Consumer Sentiment (10:00 a.m. ET) – The University of Michigan’s Consumer Survey Center questions 500 households each month on their financial conditions and attitudes about the economy. Consumer sentiment is directly related to the strength of consumer spending.

We get both new and existing home sales as well as a look at the overall economy with GDP next week. It’s going to be busy and we’ll have it all covered in Market Update.

Mortgage rates and economic data certainly aren’t everyone’s thing. If you’ve got a craving for something a little less dry, we’ve got plenty of home, money and lifestyle content to share with you if you subscribe to the Zing Blog below. Today is Earth Day, but practical tips on how to conserve and be more mindful of resources are helpful year-round. Here are seven ways to celebrate Earth Day every day. Have a great week!

The post Retail Sales Surge While Housing Starts Fall Off – Market Update appeared first on ZING Blog by Quicken Loans.

from Updates About Loans https://www.quickenloans.com/blog/retail-sales-surge-housing-starts-fall-off-market-update