First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.
I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.
Cheers,
Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.
We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.
I will keep you posted.
Thank you for being so patient.
It's a shame really because I like his outfit. Man...it's been a while since I've said that. It's nice to see him in clothing that isn't insanely tight. Or ugly.
Blog Action Day is every October 15th, when blogger are asked to post something about a single issue to show our strength and conviction as an online community. It's a great way to feel connected to the greater good, and the participation of so many bloggers to support the world's leading non-profit organizations is something you can do to help, right now. By blogging today, you're supporting some of the world's leading non-profits and sharing your voice for change.
This year's topic is climate change, and we'd love to read your thoughts on the topic. If you participate, leave us a link to your post in the comments, so we know to check out your post!
Go to www.blogactionday.org to learn more, get a badge for your blog showing your participation, and see some ideas for your post on climate change.
Can't wait to read your posts!
~ daisy
Quite frankly, I'm glad as hale that Tae Yang is BACK.
Speaking of Teddy, I loved his brief cameo in the music video.
Overall, the song is a nice lead back into the solo career that Tae Yang started more than a year ago. I wish he decided to promote this song because the lives would have been sweet, particularly, choreography wise. I'm looking forward to his next single, "Wedding Dress" more than ever now.
Despite my feelings towards Big Bang as a group at the moment, I'm still looking forward to the solos of three members: Tae Yang, TOP and Dae Sung.
Tae Yang already went solo last year, but he's at it again and I can't wait. He's fully capable of shining on his own and most importantly, in his own way.
TOP used to be an underground rapper and later became a member of an idol group. So...something tells me that musically, there is a side to him that I haven't seen and I would love to get to know it. Especially because I know he has good taste in music. I always loved this video of him singing Black Street's "No Diggity", one of my 90's jams and I'm still pissed YG didn't bother to train his voice because I think he would have been good.
No really. From this:
Release date: 7.10.2009.
Price: ￥
1,785
NO: KICM-91290
Track list
1. BEFORE I DECAY [PV]
2. 瞞し (Mayakashi)
So... After a bit less than 3 months the GazettE present us with another single, which was shortly announced after the release of their 4th album DIM. DIM was a utter masterpiece and you don't simply go and release anything else after such a piece of an album right away, unless it was something that didn't fit into the album concept anyways but had enough potential to be released. I think this might be the case with Before I Decay, although the band itself expressed a simple wish to create a "simple, speed song" after DIM. And that is basically what BEFORE I DECAY is.
BEFORE I DECAY is a uptempo,
furious, speed song with a lot of notes flying around and Ruki blasting
his vocal folds out with raw growls. The beginning with the verses
feels like a faster version of Zetsu's riff coupled with the distorted,
noisy and ALMOST IDENTICAL riffs from CIRCLE OF SWINDLER. A few subtle
metal licks add a bit to the variety but not as much as they did in
LEECH. The chorus is the only thing in this song that feels a bit
unpolished and done in a bigger haste than the rest, you could
basically sing the MOTH UNDER SKIN chorus over it and it would fit. And
when it comes to singles the GazettE haven't done a single original
(excluding maybe Guren) chorus since Filth in the Beauty. Basically if
you were to judge a song by it's first half it would seem rather
generic as hell. The second half brings some pleasant surprises though,
from the rhythm change in the pre chorus to the growly breakdown and
the refreshing, calm and flickering moment after it followed by some
amazing guitar tapping and alternate verse which sounds really intense,
tight and cathartic before moving to the good, old chorus. It's
incredible how this little part of the song adds so much potential and
character to it! It's like when I first listened to SHADOW VI II I, I
was fascinated by this one acoustic part to it and I could basically
just listen to the song because of that part, (even though with time I
grew to like the song overall) so I have a reminiscent same feel with
BEFORE I DECAY.
So this song is cool enough to have it's own single
and distinction, but it's on the other hand too generic to compete with
some of the masterpieces off DIM (though I'd really change it for
Headache man....). And this song is being used in the Japanese edition of the movie FAST AND FURIOUS, but not like I care about that.
Mayakashi leaves me with pretty split feelings about it. I really don't like the high main wah wah melody
that repeats and sounds more like something I'd come across in a forgettable Alice nine. B-side or at some other "Light" indies band.
The verses and pre-chorus are AND IF I FUCKING WILL HAVE TO WRITE THIS ALL OVER FOR THE THIRD TIME I WILL SHOOT SOMEONE, FUCK YOU VOX AND FIREFOX really smooth and sound a bit like the song Kare Uta coupled with the transiting riffs of Gentle Lie, giving off a certain happy-reminiscent feel. The chorus sounds pretty undeveloped, like it would go into the right direction if it was given time and thought, which is not the case with this single. The main problem with this song is the same one that Shiroki Yuuutsu had on DIM: it's a song the is good as a standalone, but placed next to a harder song it simply doesn't click. Eventually this song will grow on me, given the right time and context. But the certain pre-FILTH IN THE BEAUTY feel this song has will certainly make a lot of reminiscent listeners happy.
So overall BEFORE I DECAY brings a standard Gazetto sound with it enhanced with a few touches but not so polished and thoughtful as it was with DIM. But as the guys have stated before, it's a song that doesn't want to compete with it (or otherwise it would end up on the album). For me this release came way too sudden and my impressions for DIM haven't settled completely in order for me to get hyped about a new release. Before I Decay did exceed my expectations based on the preview, though the B-side came different from what I had imagined it to be based on the song title. The songs themselves are, in the end, really more than decent and I am sure that I'll give this release a lot of spins. So if you like the band this release is almost impossible to come by. And this band has already done so much this year so that this single is just the cherry-on-top.
