Six Pack Of Otters.

rabid_fox · July 10, 2008, 03:32:32 PM

http://www.sixpackofotters.com

It's a webcomic. Mostly slice-of-life vignette. I'd describe it as humble.

I like it. You may not. Give it a shot. If you like it, drop a comment in on the forum, eh? I was appalled at how empty a forum it had for a comic that seems to have a lot of depth.

llearch n'n'daCorna · July 10, 2008, 03:46:45 PM

*snerk*

Yeah, nice. We'll see how it goes when I catch up.

thegayhare · July 10, 2008, 04:17:48 PM

I used to read it but it's odd updating schedual put me off. pluss I wasn't to fond of the story line.

Mao · July 11, 2008, 07:57:29 AM

I like the art for it, definitely well done. I haven't read enough of it to comment on it's story, but from the skimming I did I'm not so sure I like it. I'll read through it I guess and find out.

llearch n'n'daCorna · July 11, 2008, 09:35:39 AM

The only complaint I have is that the images on the site are somewhat slow to load.

Which is, well, just one of those things, I guess. There are possibly things that could be done to improve that - save in gif instead of jpg, perhaps, or look at png, and compare - but overall, it'd be a heck of a lot of work to go through the entire archive and get them transferred across.

Well, sure you could batch it, but you'd have to skip through and make sure the quality was good enough, and _that_ is where all the time gets used up...

Edit:
A quick look into this shows the difference to be on the order of 170k for gif, which the author is already using, 230k for jpg, and 140 for png.

That's with max image quality, which you may or may not want to fiddle with. So it looks like the chances are, with this specific artwork, it's not worth the effort... I hate it when that happens...

Sofox · July 11, 2008, 10:26:45 AM

Hey, Six Pack of Otters.
I met Beanie at Anthrocon (she's the one who makes it) and it was great talking to her. Before I'd only read part of the archives, but at her stall in Artist's Alley, I bought the first two comic books of the comic off of her and one or two other things and then read though the books and later the whole archive.
The art can be unbelievably cute at times, especially Tuamao, and the story and characters are interesting in their own ways.

GabrielsThoughts · July 11, 2008, 10:55:57 AM

It's interesting but my mind keeps drifting off when I read it.

Ryudo Lee · July 11, 2008, 12:49:30 PM

Well that was a pleasant use of my time. That one's going into my list.

Cogidubnus · July 11, 2008, 10:23:49 PM

Reading through this right now. I'm rather enjoying it.

Azlan · July 12, 2008, 01:24:38 AM

Tuamao is quite the fun one, I rather like him.

Jairus · July 12, 2008, 01:32:06 AM

Hm, looks like another webcomic to add to my current glut of things to finish catching up on my reading.

Questionable Content
Oh My Gods
Castlevania RPG
Penny Arcade
Six Pack of Otters

I don't think I'm forgetting anything.

VSMIT · July 12, 2008, 01:34:07 AM

You haven't finished CVRPG yet? Dark's gonna kill you.

Jairus · July 12, 2008, 02:27:18 AM

Hey, I only found DMFA three weeks ago. And there are... 805 entries under CVRPG. I'm working on it.

King Of Hearts · July 12, 2008, 03:22:24 AM

gosh darnit... another one to add to my list...

I'll never finish anything at this rate.

Havent finished CVRPG yet as well, I keep forgetting where I left off and spend hours trying to get back my pace.

Jairus · July 12, 2008, 03:40:11 AM

Quote from: King Of Hearts on July 12, 2008, 03:22:24 AM
Havent finished CVRPG yet as well, I keep forgetting where I left off and spend hours trying to get back my pace.

My trick when I'm reading a webcomic is to make a bookmark under my browser for the page I was last at and initial it with the webcomic's initials. Since bookmarks stay on my browser until I remove them, I can go back days or even weeks later to start from where I was. Though I don't know if that would work on your computer.

King Of Hearts · July 12, 2008, 04:15:48 AM

I dont really have internet on my own computer... so I use the school or my work connection, which tends to erase bookmarks every day. I just list down the strip numbers nowadays.

...which only becomes a problem when I forget which scrap of paper I wrote that in... and that happens a lot because Im quite a pack rat.

Faerie Alex · July 12, 2008, 09:03:41 AM

If you have a flash thumb drive, you could do what I did, and install a portable browser on it. Just a thought.

Jairus · July 12, 2008, 10:11:41 AM

Quote from: King Of Hearts on July 12, 2008, 04:15:48 AM
I dont really have internet on my own computer... so I use the school or my work connection, which tends to erase bookmarks every day. I just list down the strip numbers nowadays.

...which only becomes a problem when I forget which scrap of paper I wrote that in... and that happens a lot because Im quite a pack rat.

This going to sound incredible dorky, but I carry a notebook with me wherever I go. There's a line in a Tom Clancy novel that goes something along the lines of "If you never wrote it down, it never happened," and I've lost more than a few ideas because I forgot to write it down. For example, one idea I had while out going through my normal routine was that the legendary "cold iron" that could hurt or weaken a Fairy was in fact "non-magical iron:" i.e. iron with no enhancing spells or enchantment. Anyway, away from that story: I also use the notebook to write down stuff that I need to remember in real life (phone numbers, addresses, shopping lists, things my Mom needs me to do when I visit). Keeping all of your little scraps in one place might help.

rabid_fox · July 12, 2008, 12:35:41 PM

I love how you take a lot of drugs, Jairus. It's charming.

Jairus · July 12, 2008, 07:30:27 PM

I actually did use to take drugs (Ritalin, stuff like that) in order to help with what we thought was ADD, then ADHD, but we're now fairly certain is low-grade Asperger syndrome. Besides, who needs drugs when you can come up with dialogue like "No, I actually hate my mother and I am going to kill her once I figure out how to do it." Um, that's not helping my case, is it?

Sofox · July 13, 2008, 01:56:54 PM

Quote from: Jairus on July 12, 2008, 07:30:27 PMI actually did use to take drugs (Ritalin, stuff like that) in order to help with what we thought was ADD, then ADHD, but we're now fairly certain is low-grade Asperger syndrome.

My mind still continually boggles at how sedation of regular children is so incredibly popular in America.

Jairus · July 13, 2008, 02:09:12 PM

Quote from: Sofox on July 13, 2008, 01:56:54 PM
Quote from: Jairus on July 12, 2008, 07:30:27 PMI actually did use to take drugs (Ritalin, stuff like that) in order to help with what we thought was ADD, then ADHD, but we're now fairly certain is low-grade Asperger syndrome.
My mind still continually boggles at how sedation of regular children is so incredibly popular in America.

No, Ritalin and drugs like that really aren't sedatives, they are designed to help you focus. I mean, part of ADHD's problem is that it's really hard to focus on something, since your attention kind of starts to wander. They just make it a little easier to focus on something, but the problem with that is that you still need to focus on the right thing. So, I guess it's a sedative, but it's not like how it's usually portrayed. I mean, I was always really energetic, and this stuff just made it easier to focus my attention. Part of my problem was that Ritalin stopped working for me when I hit fifth grade, and that's when my psychiatrist started to think that it might be Asberger Syndrome. (Long story short, I tackled and beat up my best friend. The guy was a year younger than me, and probably two or three inches taller than me and twice as muscular.)

I can actually do some freaky things when I'm focused: once I wrote what basically amounted to a seventeen-page single-spaced size-12 font short story in the course of a single Saturday. Another time, in fifteen minutes I outlined the general rules for breeding in my universe in about one and a half pages when I had never once had them properly organized before. And last Christmas, I put together a big LEGO set for my little brother (why he couldn't put my present to him together by himself is beyond me. Lazy punk) over the course of about three or four hours, and basically did this while five or six people were watching a DVD of Fame (old TV show, I'd never heard of it) and succeeded in not noticing that they were there, I was so focused on it.

I'm rambling again, aren't I? Sorry.

EDIT: Yay! My user-ranking is no longer "Fuzzy Fluffball!" I am now an "Undead!" Evil Jyrras has called off his revenge! Mweeeheeheehee!

Sofox · July 13, 2008, 02:28:24 PM

For the first part, let me just say if you put a bunch of schoolkids in a room against their will for numerous sessions each day, 5 days a week, you can hardly pretend that a kid not paying attention is unusual. Personally I'm also worried about side effects, and whether you learn to focus your mind if you've had drugs do it for you for the early part of your life.

However, I have to say, I've never heard a good explanation of what Ritalin is like like the one you've given me. I actually find it appealing since there are often things I'd like to focus on, but go do something else for whatever reason (fear etc.). That said I wouldn't be keen on trying it, I greatly value my body and my mind and I'd really want to know what was in medication if I ever had to take it.

Jairus · July 13, 2008, 02:38:39 PM

Quote from: Sofox on July 13, 2008, 02:28:24 PM
For the first part, let me just say if you put a bunch of schoolkids in a room against their will for numerous sessions each day, 5 days a week, you can hardly pretend that a kid not paying attention is unusual. Personally I'm also worried about side effects, and whether you learn to focus your mind if you've had drugs do it for you for the early part of your life.

However, I have to say, I've never heard a good explanation of what Ritalin is like like the one you've given me. I actually find it appealing since there are often things I'd like to focus on, but go do something else for whatever reason (fear etc.). That said I wouldn't be keen on trying it, I greatly value my body and my mind and I'd really want to know what was in medication if I ever had to take it.

It was shortly after fifth grade that my psychiatrist and I started working on me focusing by myself. So, it's more of a matter of the drugs helping you focus when you're a kid, when you really can't do it by yourself, while gradually learning as you grow up to control where you direct your focus. At least, that's how we did it for me: I don't know how other people did it. I stopped taking my pills when I hit high school, and considering that I always got C's, B's and A's I'd say I did pretty good. The sad thing is that I got good grades without caring. Most of my teachers who realize this always tell me that if I genuinely focused, I could get all A's and B's. Which is why those incredible sessions of creativity only spring up when I really focus. And why sometimes I can solve really difficult sudoku puzzles in like five or six minutes. Albeit, that might be a side-effect of my problems, but that's beside the point...

Incidentally, don't try it. Really, don't. Last I checked, it's a prescription medication for a reason.

PS: My computer knows how to spell "sudoku." And yet it can't spell "Skywalker." Sad.

Sofox · July 13, 2008, 03:21:41 PM

Quote from: Jairus on July 13, 2008, 02:38:39 PM
Incidentally, don't try it. Really, don't. Last I checked, it's a prescription medication for a reason.

Don't worry, not even thinking of it (doubt they sell it here anyway)

And thanks for letting me know of your experiences, it's interesting.

Mao · July 13, 2008, 03:42:33 PM

My mind is a swirling miasma of scintillating thoughts and turgid ideas.

llearch n'n'daCorna · July 13, 2008, 04:22:52 PM

Quote from: Sofox on July 13, 2008, 03:21:41 PM
Quote from: Jairus on July 13, 2008, 02:38:39 PM
Incidentally, don't try it. Really, don't. Last I checked, it's a prescription medication for a reason.

Don't worry, not even thinking of it (doubt they sell it here anyway)

They will almost certainly sell it, however it's prescription only in most places. The reason for that is that if you _don't_ have ADHD, it'll still screw you up. Hence why there are parents who like it - after they put the kids on it, they go space-out real easy, and your average child is short of attention span anyway. Certainly mine is, although he's probably Aspergers as well (since he's very like me, and I probably have it; we certainly have all the symptoms, anyway) but most of the other kids I've dealt with - my sisters five, various groups of school kids, etc etc - seem to behave much the same.

Kids are kids, and they react in their own way; they see the world differently to adults, and things are all exciting and new. Attempting to regulate them into adulthood is just going to make problems for them later.

Er. Sorry. Friends of my wife's mother use her to look after their kids 5 days a week, and lock the kids in their rooms (literally) on weekends, dose them with ritalin because "they're ADHD", and claim govt subsidies for a large car so they can transport the kids to school... even though they're not actually doing anything of the sort. They sicken me, and this whole Ritalin thing brings it all back. Please, accept my apologies for venting all over your feet...

Mao · July 13, 2008, 04:26:38 PM

Honestly, I don't blame you for venting. That sounds pretty rotten. I personally am against most medications (unless it's life threatening) but I understand that sometimes it's necessary. What really tweaks me though is people who abuse them, either in situations like you described or in other contexts that most folks already know.

Jairus · July 13, 2008, 06:03:22 PM

Hey, I'm not gonna get angry at you for venting. Sometimes you just have to let it all out. And to be honest, I was probably one of the only people at my school who had these problems, so I've never really had a chance to get to know about other people's experiences. Maybe I was a lucky one. Maybe I wasn't. I honestly do not know. However, since my parents quickly figured out that I liked to find a corner and do something by myself, and never really forced me to do anything that I didn't want to do (I wanted to get into theater, and I wanted to do karate, and I didn't want to do sports), I'd say that I was pretty lucky to have the parents I've got. And considering that my Mom still lets me throw ideas off of her, I think our relationship is still healthy.

Eibborn · July 13, 2008, 08:12:25 PM

Heh, it's cute! I like the art. In the beginning, though, I think it came on a bit too strongly. It was like the author said, 'I'll show you their most prominent character traits, and then I'll start playing with them.'

It's certainly worth bookmarking, though. It'll take a while to read through.