Spinny Beachball, Turny Hourglass, Immobile Progress Bar, Whatever

Folks, folks. I know. I’m really really sorry. There is stuff going on, and things, whereof which presently I can’t speak, therefore I must remain silent. We here at 2dgoggles Emalgamated Comics Industries are in what you might term a state of flux.

Hoping to have more comics happening soon! In the meantime, being a woman-type thing I’m evidently meant to be on Pinterest, where I have put pictures of 2d-gogglish clothes and engines.

Also, in some Lovelace news:

– not sure how she’d feel about having a Giant Boring Machine named after her..
– if you live anywhere near Cambridge Massachusets, you can go to a musical where Ada Lovelace meets a world-weary Civil War veteran, in something that sounds like a dream I might have had after too many late nights on John Carter and User Exprience

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22 Comments

  1. Dark Puss on May 8, 2012 at 7:54 pm

    I’ve got a copy of Pouchet’s “Universe” too! Do you have any of the “Romance of …” titles, where … can equal chemistry, microsope, engineering etc? See here for example:

    http://morganas-cat.tumblr.com/post/378693497/woman-reading

  2. Ben on April 16, 2012 at 1:42 pm

    Despite being a subscriber to the American Repertory Theatre’s newsletter, I wouldn’t have given Futurity, the Ava Lovelace/Civil War musical a second glance based on the title and the basic promotional hype. So I was glad you mentioned it, as it gave me a chance to discover something new and odd. And, since I basically went because you couldn’t, I thought I’d share my impressions. Please delete if you’re not interested.

    Julian, the soldier, is apparently wholly fictional, but there is a charm to the correspondence between him and Countess Lovelace that has a nice ring of verisimilitude to it, before theatrical convention takes over and the correspondence is abbreviated to simulate conversation instead of the laborious trans-Atlantic series of missives it would (might) have been.

    Miss Lovelace is slightly at odds with your portrayal of her, more someone who is attempting to be the synthesis of her mother’s scientific regimen and her father’s artistic impulses, using the idea of a steam-powered decision engine as an apotheotic goal. Yours is less lofty, more more tightly wound, but — of course — she is intended for more comic purposes than serious ones. My theatre-going companion, not familiar with Lovelace’s background, was completely at a loss as to why she was involved in the story of the musical at all, whereas I found her a useful figure to ground the work in some speculative reality.

    Overall, it was more of an excuse for the band to create a concept album than it was a true musical, but I think it did slip its boundaries there, as the whole thing was a very theatrical effort, with some inventive staging, and some very successful emotion, even if the essential ludicrous idea that “a machine that creates peace” may leave audiences at best bemused and at worst scoffing. Still, I was impressed. I picked up the album there, but am waiting to give it a listen so as to not immediately overwrite the impression of experience with the static recording, so I can’t say how you’d find it as a stand-alone experience. The closed the night with a tune about the forthcoming human/computer interface, “Singularity”, which is on their Soundcloud page, and should give you an impression of the timbre of the songwriting.

  3. Ali Weathers on March 29, 2012 at 2:12 am

    Not to put any more pressure on you or anything, muhahahaha, but are you considering – or do you already (sekritly!) offer – dead tree editions of Ada and company? Or at the very least, do you Lulu? Because my bookshelves are crying out for proper hard-or-soft-covered caressable Lovelace and Babbage graphic novels…

  4. Anon, a Mouse on March 17, 2012 at 1:13 am

    I’ve always called that spinning beach ball “The Trivial Pursuit of Death.”

    Thanks for the link to your Pintrest and the alerts to the existence of a) an Ada Lovelace Boring Machine (which just doesn’t sound good any way it’s phrased) and b) an alternate history musical. You brighten our days with the sheer amount of brand-new information you share! No hurry on the next comic— Hang in there!

  5. Valerie Aurora on March 16, 2012 at 3:50 am

    Beautiful illustration of the halting problem! :)

  6. Chris Hoppe on March 15, 2012 at 9:34 am

    Concerning … Spinny Beachball, Turny Hourglass, Immobile Progress Bar, Whatever …

    As a faithful RSS reader, I will remain patient to whatever extent needed until the next installment of the adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. Art takes time – and work. My daughter is studying for her BFA in art, and is always short of time and overloaded with work. Please don’t be tempted to quit, I already regret the absence of “Calamities of Nature” who needed to go dark due to similar pressures.
    Your artwork is a gift from you to all of us, and obligation is not a part of the arrangement. Thanks for what you do. Just continue to say hi now and then, each update is a pleasant surprise.

    • Kaazz on March 15, 2012 at 11:46 pm

      +1

    • AndyG1066 on March 20, 2012 at 9:36 pm

      + 1 – too!

  7. Redshift on March 14, 2012 at 5:59 pm

    We’ll wait. We understand, really, and we’re grateful for whatever you have time to give us.

  8. Pete Arundel on March 14, 2012 at 5:58 pm

    Giant Boring Machine?

    I need more punctuation!

    • TuringTest on March 18, 2012 at 9:36 am

      Those machines are booooring…

    • Del on March 18, 2012 at 11:50 am

      Boring is bad obviously, but Giant Tunneling Machine would be awesome. You should get Brunel to build her one. He has experience, because when he was a young man he worked in the tunneling machine designed by his father for the original Thames Tunnel. I’m sure he could think of a few improvements (mostly comfortable seats, a drafting board, and a place to put all his drawings).

      In other London tunneling news, the machine that’s going in to bore the tunnel to take the load off Bazalgette’s sewer (still taking the strain after all these years) has recently been named Busy Lizzie, partly after the current reigning monarch. Imagine a tunneling machine called “Vickie”! She would not be amused.

      • ajay on March 24, 2012 at 1:56 pm

        Just remember, if you look up “Boring” in the Yellow Pages, it will tell you “See: Civil Engineers”.



  9. Pete Arundel on March 14, 2012 at 5:56 pm

    I can handle the waiting but paraphrasing Wittgenstein is beyond the pale . . .

    • Robin Hague on March 16, 2012 at 10:13 pm

      Wittgenstein! No the true philosopher… D Adams

  10. Robin Hague on March 14, 2012 at 5:51 pm

    That’s what came to my mind to, DON’T PANIC, or possibly to paraphrase the illustrious book, DON’T GUILT…
    I look forward greatly to the episodes, but I appreciate the effort that must go into creating them, that it is a creative process and other work must take precedence. 2DGoggles should be about your fun as much as ours!
    So enjoy it, take your time and we will wait patiently…
    (I think my computer now needs a mechanical “in operation” indicator)

  11. RedScharlach on March 13, 2012 at 10:42 pm

    In my office, the spinny rainbow beachball is known as the Twirly Wheel of Annoyingness. I think it has a nicely Zen ring to it.

  12. John on March 13, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    Right. Wherever “here” is, that’s where we are. Figure all the people who are SO impatient that they leave the page open and refresh-refresh-refresh have certainly all gone to the hospital with broken fingers by now.

    The comics are a highlight of the day when they show up, not something expected. When we’re paying your rent, then maybe there’ll be a problem.

    I have to admit, the Twitter comments also do a lot to fill any dead air on the site.

  13. Richard on March 13, 2012 at 8:32 pm

    Try and let go of the not-writing-a-bloody-comic guilt and enjoy yourself. We will all wait patiently for the next exciting drawn adventure of B&L. And wait….and wait….and….

  14. Brian on March 13, 2012 at 8:08 pm

    And if Ada comes over to hit you with a stick (or a tire iron), run.

  15. Kaazz on March 13, 2012 at 7:52 pm

    This illustration will definitely serve to tide me over until such time, as allowed by your schedule, you can post a full-length comic! And I’m waiting on tippy-toes to see what new, shiny things are forthcoming, here at my favorite online comic!!

    Cheers!

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