Status Report

This is an unrelated post to the archive, but I thought I’d update you all on Michael Grant’s (Animorphs co-author) new series “GONE”. The website TheFayz.com has now been launched with a new blog related to the series. I believe Mr. Grant wrote this blog himself, but I’m not completely sure. Either way, it’s supposed to introduce a new character named “Sinder” that has been unheard of until now, so check it out:

THEFAYZ.COM

Also, if you haven’t read his new book yet, then what are you waiting for?! I finished it a few weeks back, and I couldn’t put it down! It’s very, very cool, and I’m really looking forward to the sequel (which I believe is set to be released sometime on June 2009).

On a personal note, it’s too bad that the name TheFayz.com was already taken. All throughout the book I was like “Oh man, this is awesome, I gotta start a website or something. I know! I’ll name it THE FAYZ”. I know, I know, I’m just so original. Picture me scene framing that name with my hands and you’ve got an inside peek at my thinking process, lol.

It’s too bad I was beaten to it, but oh well, maybe I’ll come up with something else? Something original. I’ll have to think it through and see if I even have enough time to consider it as a project with my last year of college coming up. Maybe I’ll use it as cover for one of my projects? Hm.. who knows. *grin*

Until next time!

Hello and welcome! There were some new changes made to the site today. If you take a look up, you’ll notice that the menu has gotten a bit bigger. That’s because there are two new sections: Downloads and Support. (If you don’t see them, then that’s most likely because your browser hasn’t updated yet. Hit refresh or reload, or just restart the browser altogether.)

I spent much of my time reorganizing the site today and yesterday. It has been a slow frustrating process, but I think it’s going to work out for the best for the archive. Hirac Delest is growing more and more, so it’s only natural to keep up with the changes and expand further so that everything doesn’t get completely lost in the shuffle, which is why I felt we needed to add a new Downloads section, rather than keeping it squeezed in the Database.

The new Downloads section will have all of the original things (music, videos, screensavers, etc), except now they’re better organized in their subpages, rather than being shoved all into one page. Also, while moving the pages, I did add a few new things, such as new Music from the TV show. Four new songs to be exact.

These are the tunes and songs that you’d hear in the backgrounds of the episodes. It took me a while to find them for this site, so please do check it out (My favourite is probably “For You” and the Staredown tune from “Not My Problem”). The audio section got a new Brooke (Rachel) & Nadia (Cassie) interview, as well as some new sound clips from the tv show. Be sure to have a listen to them too.

Also, every music, audio, and video page will have streaming controls now, meaning that you can watch and listen to the file right then and there. Don’t worry though, you can still download them as usual by just following this icon:

Lastly, the new Support section is something I had to separate for itself as well, because it’s apparent how important that is to everyone who comes here. A lot of people are contributing a ton of things to this site all the time, so this is a better way to keep track of things specifically for that.

The Story part of the website merged with a few things from the previous About section, because it just made sense to put it there. I’m planning on adding other things like profiles for K.A. Applegate and David B. Mattingly on that part of the site soon. I’m surprised I didn’t do it sooner.

Anyways, that about covers it for now. The Header and Menu up there got a few design changes too, while I moved things around. Take a look around. Try out all the streaming features with the music and videos. Hopefully they’ll make things look better and give a much more enjoyable experience to you all now. Any feedback on this would be much appreciated.

Until next time!

All the forms on the website should now be working again (Trivia, Quotes, About us, etc). If you come across a form that I have accidentally forgotten or one that is still not working, then please let me know ASAP, and I’ll fix it. Remember that you can contact me directly through email or through the Hirac Delest Forum, or even by replying to this blog post.

The About Page has also been updated. Thanks to Raevyn and Foamy for providing me for the Ellimist Chronicles inside cover. All we have left to get now is #42! Please contact me if you can provide this!

The Animorphs 2008 Contest Page has also been updated with new details.

Now that that’s out of the way, expect an actual update on some new site content soon. I’ve got some cool stuff that I’ve been anxious to put up 🙂

I hadn’t noticed this before, but the comment and submission boxes on this website are currently not working. It has something to do with us moving to a new domain. I’m going to try and fix them all as soon as I get the time. In the mean while, if you have something important to send me, or need to get a hold me, please use the email hirac_delest@hotmail.com

Thanks to JRTCMA for pointing this out to me on the forum. I appreciate it.

Also, FYI, the rules for the Animorphs 2008 Music Video Contest have been altered to allow up to 4 video submissions from each person now. You still can’t submit more than one video to each category, but if you wish to submit 4 videos, each for a separate category, then that’s fine. The changes in the rules haven’t been reflected onto the actual page yet, but I’ll be updating with that as I fix the submission forms as soon as I can.

Does everyone here remember David B. Mattingly? He’s the artist who made all of those great morphing covers on the Animorph books. Anyway, he posted a video on Youtube showing off some of the morphs from the covers in animation! Some of them are newly animated and unseen before now! Check it out below!

Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoEABlcwDZ8

So I was looking through the website’s layout today and I realized that I had overlooked something incredibly simple: I hadn’t linked the forum directly through the Community tab up there. Instead, I had it lead to a separate page where you would have to click on another link for the forum again so that it would open up in another window or tab.

Why didn’t I change this to link directly to the forum when I changed the layout? I have no idea. But it’s fixed now. Click the Community tab and you’ll see it pop up right below as with every other page on the website. The reasoning behind this is that the header up there will always stay up there, and it will combine the entire site together. You can now easily jump to anywhere in Hirac Delest and back into the community forum without any sort of hassle of switching between windows.

I spent a few hours just trying to adjust the CSS coding for the Invision Free board to adjust it to the current site’s look, but eventually (after much frustration), I just gave up and returned back to its old style. Maybe once I figure out how to go about it, I’ll take another stab, but for now, the look will be staying. I created a new banner for the forum as well.

Also, for those that haven’t been visiting the website forum lately (or AT ALL! tsk tsk), you’ll notice that I’ve uploaded something very special for all of you in the Downloads section. What is it? Register and find out. It’s for members only 😉

The Hirac Delest 2008 Music Video Contest is now up! I know there are a lot of fans out there (I guess, including myself now too) that love to make music video for Animorphs (They’re all over Youtube, for those clueless). If you’re one of these people, or you’re someone new who’d like to give it a try, then you’re gonna wanna check this out!

The contest calls for you to submit 2 of your best videos by October 31. Check out the page for rules and categories. I’ve even provided a submission form to make things painless. You can also spread the word, and check any updates for the page directly at: www.hiracdelest.com/contest-status.htm

Also, as for videos, I’ve changed the layout for the Fan Projects main page up a bit, and added in a few new videos: Visser2Azula (1 New) and Huntsgirl12 (9 New – WOW). I also added my video which I updated with on this blog a little while back: Issam (1 New).

A few other small changes have also been made here and there. The Memorable Quotes has also been updated with a new quote. Aside from that, there’s not much else. More will come soon.

Until Next Time! 🙂

The time has come to give Hirac Delest a real domain. Starting from today you can all access the website through www.hiracdelest.com

I figured that since this website has grown and proven popular enough over the last year, that it deserved its own address, rather than as a long subdomain instead.

If for some reason the website doesn’t work for you with the www.hiracdelest.com address, then please let me know immediately. You may have to hit refresh or reload on your browser since it’s new, but it should work. (Although if you’re seeing this, then it’s working! :p)

I’ve transferred everything over from the old domain, but incase I’ve missed something (i.e. if a page is missing or if something isn’t loading properly) then please let me know, or comment below.

Please update your bookmarks, and welcome to hiracdelest.com

Thank you 🙂

Just a quick update for today. I went through all of your emails and submissions that I’ve received so far for the inside covers, book memorabilia, and contest winners. The good news is that we’ve got all of the scans now for the contest winners! Thanks to Sat, Monster, and JRTCMA for helping out!

For the inside covers, all we’re missing now is #42 and the Ellimist Chronicles. The book memorabilia list is also more than half done, which is just excellent! Thanks for all the help you guys. I really appreciate it! I’ll be updating with everything little by little as soon as I get more time to work on them. I’m still going through all the books, and creating individual pages for them from scratch, so I am making some good progress towards the archive.

Lastly, I’ve updated all of this in the Help Wanted page and listed everyone who has contributed so far. If I’ve overlooked something you’ve already sent me, or if I’ve forgotten to add your name in, then please tell me! I like to give proper credit wherever I can, so please don’t be shy!

That’s all for now. Until next time!

-iS

P.S. In case you missed our previous update, K.A. Applegate’s Webcast has now been released. Be sure to check it out! 😀

Hi everyone! HIRAC DELEST IS NOW ONE YEAR OLD! 😀

Amazing that the time has flown by so fast. I just wanted to say thanks to all of you for the great amount of positive support that you’ve shown this website over the last year. I only started it last summer as a personal project of mine, and I never expected it to take off and be as accepted as it did.

I know, I know, this sounds like the start of a very lame and monotonous honorary speech that you’d fall asleep to, but it’s true! It really makes me happy to receive such positive feedback in emails and messages from the loyal fanbase, who still loves this series even 7 years after it has ended (yeah, it really has been that long). So in conclusion: Animorphs rock! Thanks for helping Hirac Delest keep the series memorable! 😀

As you can see, some changes have been made. Most notably, this page! I’ve completely redesigned the banner and menu above, and framed the entire site. I have also now put in a blog for the status report (the page you’re reading now), to make it easier, faster, and more organized for you guys. Also, it gives all of you a chance to comment and discuss things on all of the latest updates! (look below for the comments option). Please reply and let me know what you think of this so far!

Of course, I doubt any of you care at this point. Most of you have likely already read the second part of the title of this update and are now frantically skimming down to this part just to get to it (kudos to those who can actually stand to hear me endlessly babble!).

HEY! STOP! THIS IS THE PART YOU WANT TO READ! *ahem* Yes, that’s right — As a special surprise for our ONE YEAR mark, I’d like to present all of you with K.A. Applegate’s First-Ever Video Webcast! For those that don’t know, I’ve been looking for this video of K.A. since I started this website. Most of you newer fans have probably never even seen (or heard of) this video before, which makes this update that much more sweeter.

Out of everything that I’ve wanted on this site, this video was definitely the first thing on my list to find. I looked up, down, everywhere! I even hunted down people (non theateningly, of course) who had this video in the past, and could help me search for it. After a long long time, it seemed almost hopeless until I got an email from James a little while back.

James was originally known as Monster, and ran the Monster’s Animorphs Website (now shut down). With his help, he was able to dig through his backups and find me this webcast. It was possibly the only AND last copy available for it online. I know I’m still babbling, but I just want you guys to know how big of a deal it is to finally find this video. It’s a rare one time opportunity that we’ve ever gotten to actually see K.A. for real. I am forever thankful to James for providing this video for us to see.

And with that, click the picture below to start watching K.A. Applegate’s First-Ever Webcast! 😀

Let me the first to warn you that this video can be a bit glitchy on some browsers. The video itself is presented in SMI format (something I’m completely unfamiliar with), so it took some time for me to figure out how to present it to you guys. Basically, if you hate Real Player (and I know many do) you’re going to have to suck it up and download the newest free version if you want to see this video. Restart your browser or hit refresh once you’ve done so and it should work (I’ve tested this out on different computers already and it works everytime).

If for some reason your browser still can’t work it right (audio, but no video), then you can download it straight to your computer from the provided zip file. The instructions are all on that page.

As for the rest of the site, here’s a brief summary of what I’ve updated:

REPORT DETAIL

DATABASE

Added in K.A’s Webcast, Transcript, and Download in the Cast & Crew section of Articles & Interviews, and also on the Downloads page. The Help Wanted page has also been updated to this change.

The Memorable Quotes have also been updated with several new submissions. Feel free to add more if you have any good ones that you’d like to share.

FAN PROJECTS

I updated the links on the page since some of them were outdated. I also added videos for Huntsgirl12 (4 Music Videos) and Visser2Azula (1 Trailer) in their individual pages.

RESDESIGN

As part of the redesign on the website, I’ve also changed the banner and menu up top as most of you have probably noticed already, and I’ve edited many of the individual pages on the website to work with the new look. A few more things still need to be changed, but this is all I had time for today.

Lastly, let me know how you’re liking the new blog. I still have to tweak a few things here and there. But I think it’s going to work out pretty well. Comment below. Let me know what you think of K.A’s Webcast too. I’m sure if K.A ends up seeing it posted on this website anytime soon, she’ll flip, but it’s okay (She’s doesn’t like the attention apparently). Either way, I’d like to hear your reactions on it too. Especially you newer fans who have never seen this before 😀

Until Next Time!

-iS