SteelSkin.net - The Ramblings of Chris Nutt

More likely than not you are viewing this site on a Windows PC. If so you will notice the banner above uses Arial. Arial is rip clone of Helvetica a timeless classic that is by its very nature expensive to license. Microsoft knows its customers, these are the people that laugh at ‘hilarious’ clip art and think using Comic Sans gives them ‘personality’. So MS hired Monotype to make alternatives to all the popular postscript type faces, including Helvetica.

I hardly ever get to see the real thing, so its very nice to have the differences pointed out.
Arial is like Helvetica’s unfortunate twin, that through some accident got a few scars. Still retaining the general beauty, but not nearly as impressive as Hell-uva-tika.

Hybrid Works 2006 Desktop Vacation is finally up, I won’t hold it against the guy as he is hellavabusy. Surf to http://www.hybridworks.jp/

Lol, the award for most over cooked PING dialogue has to go to Speedtest.net. Below is an example result from this amazing, if slightly pointless service.

 I use DL’s Agua at home as it is an excellent system replacement icon set. He has recently released a new set called Amora. It’s style is based on the video for ‘All is Full of Love‘ By Bjork. I love how David remembers to do res-specific icons something few creators remember to do. Check it out!

The UK Anime industry we are told is currently in a wonderful new era, expanding and growing like never before. Many series are very polished and certainly have a chance of main stream success. One such series is Eureka Seven. I have been watching it on funsub since it started and I really have been looking forward to a UK release. The US release is being handled by Bandai who have been bringing out some great value special editions featuring the DVD, Manga, Soundtrack and T-Shirt. I was hoping for a similar UK release. So I toddled off to Beez the UK distributer. I would say the site is awful, but there isn’t even one and hasn’t been one for over 12 months! How can Beez expect anyone in the UK to take them seriously when we can’t even find out basic information about their local presence.
Many of the other sites are barely better.

MVM handle high profile releases like Full Metal Alchemist and Trigun. Having tried their excellent Works taster packs you would have thought their website would scream fun and variety. However a grey and awful world presents itself. Whilst it isn’t hard to navigate, why would you want to? It looks worse than most fan sites and is horrendously unprofessional. Though whilst it doesn’t resort to frames, it does use image only links and some of the worst colour choice I’ve seen on a ‘professional’ site.

Manga UK seem to still be living in 1999 super frames land. I’m surprised they haven’t added midi to the site. I realise they haven’t been in the best of health lately and it is wrong to kick a guy when he is down. Seriously though, could you not buy an off the shelf site that would look and work better? Whilst it is nice that they are discounting VHS tapes, I hardly think it warrants primacy before all other options. Bottom aligned menus are just annoying as hell. Their Mini-sites are okay, but they don’t make up for the main site.

ADV inherited a site from their US parent that whilst not amazing, does the job and is what I would have expected from MVM, Manga and Beez. To be honest I was not that interested in their current releases, but at least their site enticed me in enough to look around and maybe consider titles I otherwise would have ignored.

Unfortunately the one UK company that has a major clue in terms of web design and standards compliance isn’t a dedicated Anime company. Optimum released the recent Appleseed film and the The Studio Ghibli Collection. The site is light elegant, accessible and modern. I love the design, I wish I could design that well, it is simply on another level compared to the others.

Unfortunately to see a full on Anime company that does have a clue and isn’t from the US or Japan you have to go to Australia and Madman Entertainment. Madman handle a huge amount of releases, that are usually split up between the various UK companies. They not only have a great main site, but they also produce some of the nicest Flash supporting sites I have seen in ages. We have fantastic designers in the UK some of the best in the world, why the hell aren’t the UK Anime industry using them?

- Rant over

This time last year I wrote a post about futuristic tech. If you know me you know I like futurism. I wish I could afford more, but what guy in his twenties doesn’t like some tech.

One of my all time favourite futuristic items was my old Lorus Fusion.The text glowed red in the dark and the frame was asymmetrical chrome. After about 3 years it died, the beatings it took killed it. I haven’t found a watch as good since, the new Fusion I have is a pale comparison, murky green glow and uncomfortable to wear. So I’ve always had an eye out for a newer replacement.

Now Casio’s G-Shocks always seemed abit plasticy and naff to me, sure plastic can be nice, but they just seemed to ‘ick’ to me.
More rock climber than buck rogers. Then I found the G-Shock Polygon, it is a new design in simple two tone plastic and the thinest G-Shock available. I just love it’s straight out of Anime look and the negative display editions.

Maybe its a child hood brought up with Transformers and random Japanese cartoons (Battle of the Planets), but I expected the future to be more futuristic. So to this end I would like to salute those designs available on the street today that do indeed look the way I expected the future too :)

Nokia 7610
Its a smart phone, its frankly bonker’s looking and in red n’ Black it looks damn mean. Looks like a mad raygun meets a communicator.

Mazda RX8
It has a renesis rotary engine, lasers for lights and strange swing/suicide doors. Gets my vote, hardly subtle, but hay this is the Future after all.

Aiwa’s NX/PX range NetMDs
NX9
NX1
PX1
I was lucky enough to see the black and orange NX9 in a local Cash Generator for £10 over the new price. It looks amazing, sure its plastic, but the design is shockingly different to the clinical look of the iPod. The NX1 and PX1 both have some great machined finishes. I guess its a reflection of what you consider space age. US/UK consider the white Storm Trooper look to be futuristic, where as the Japanese have the flamboyant Anime Mecha scene to draw from. The technology is now quite far behind and Aiwa’s more recent efforts have been somewhat duller. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sony have pinched the designer for themselves. I would love to see what Aiwa would come up with in iPod -a-like market. It would probably blow Sony’s own designs out of the water.