We have begun thawing out.

Made a run out to the Boone County History & Culture Center on a tip from my friend Brian Flanagin that they were selling official DVD copies of John Turner’s fascinating film, Korla, a documentary about St. Louisian/Columbian John Redd, a Black man who, passing for an Indian from Delhi, came to fame as keyboard mesmerizer Korla Pandit. I’d seen the film at Ragtag Cinema, been intrigued by the scholarly discussion (with fire and rhymes added by Tyree Paladon Byndom), and recommended it yesterday on Instagram as a great local Black history document. That’s where Brian learned of it, as he stood in front of the Center’s display class where it lay. It was the last film I loaned to my late friend George Frissell (I had a preview disc), so I had to snap up an official copy. My birthday’s coming, after all–I don’t think DVDs qualify under my New Year’s Resolution ban…or do they?

For Saturday Movie Night: J Blakeson’s I Care a Lot, on Netflix, with one of the most repulsive reptiles of a protagonist I’ve seen recently. At first, when I recognized hints of black comedy, I was fairly engaged; during the second half, when the film became ridiculous and was resolved by a deus-who-had-been-obviously-planted-earlier-ex-machina, I didn’t care very much.

A party during an episode of The Durrells really made me miss celebrating with people while records play, booties shake, bodies sweat, and liquor flows. Really made me miss it. Damn TV shows…

Streaming for Strivers:

They say it’s your birthday…