The Introduction

Listen: I'm not yet on Facebook, though it beckons. How else will my mom see pictures of my cat? Myspace may never know me (deo volente). I am happily anachronistic. So why, while listening to a new CD of old-fashioned music, do I start a blog? Some reasons, like the central traumas of Vonnegut novels, are more interesting when we talk around them.

With that unanswered, the next question is: what does "batholudens" mean? I made it up, which is a convenient practice when you're looking for an unused title on Blogger. The word is a bastard, a centaur, Greek on the first part and lewdly Roman at the end. I mean to imply three or four things with the name. First, "batho" comes from the Greek βαθύς, meaning "deep." Don't worry, I'm kidding. The word has been a joke ever since Alexander Pope got his hands on it, which is fine. I'm not bitter. The next part is "ludens," Latin for "playing," which, according to a certain Huizinga, is one of the more important things that we do with our lives. Third, the miscegenation of the title is about as weird as the word "television." This is on purpose. I mean for this blog, like me, like TV, to be as American as wars of choice and apple pie. Being American makes for a fun, strange time if you're paying attention. This place was a little off already before David Lynch looked at it, just ask Harry Smith.

That's the best I can do to communicate something of what I think this blog will be. I'll link when the obiter dicta demand, but otherwise posts will be based on my own writing more than on shout-outs to Youtube videos of bacon cats acting out scenes from "The Breakfast Club." In any case, your comments are welcome, even appreciated.