Five Arty Things to Do: Jan. 5-7

New year, new things. Some damned good things, actually. Check ‘em out, enjoy a little of what’s going on in this state capital:

1) Is Google really going to buy Netflix this year? Damned if we know – we just saw some cheap prognostication fly past our glassies in a biz-oriented listicle – but we do know that Netflix is on our Good Guys Roster right now, as they’ve worked with Austin Film Society and the Austin Film Critics Association to allow a showing of I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore on the big screen at AFS Cinema this Saturday. “But, Brenner,” you inquire, “what will happen if I watch Macon Blair’s acclaimed directorial debut?” You’ll laugh, citizen. You’ll laugh, you’ll cringe, you’ll wish there were more movies this well-made & enjoyable about fucked-up real-life people and situations.

2) Speaking of real-life people and situations – speaking of less violence-riddled ones, anyway – we recommend the show of paintings that will be revealed at Wally Workman Gallery this Saturday night. Because the Barcelona-based artist Juan Luis Jardi has captured exactly such situations in his large oil-on-canvas images that often incorporate a subtle shift into the uncanny – like some glitch in the matrix of everyday life, rendered fit to improve any art collector’s favorite wall.

3) Everyday life is often left behind in the Marvel Universe, of course, whether in cinematic or comic-book form. And this Saturday afternoon, the fantastic African realm of Wakanda is celebrated as Evan Narcisse (co-author, with Ta-Nehisi Coates) stops at Dragon’s Lair to present the first issue of the Rise of the Black Panther miniseries that’s heralding and backgrounding Marvel’s upcoming feature film. Reckon this is a perfect opportunity to get yourself a signed copy, Fearless Front-Facer.

4) That regal T’Challa, he was raised by his mother after his father was killed, right? That’s canon, isn’t it? So he wasn’t – no one in a single-parent household is – an orphan. But some kids are. Some non-royal, non-super-powered, Depression-era, newspaper-hawking kids are exactly that – Orphans! – and now they’ve got their own improvised musical comedy romping across the boards at the Hideout Theatre on Congress, opening this weekend and continuing with irrepressible pluck and gumption on Saturday nights throughout January.

5) Fact: Harpsichords don’t exist solely for Tori Amos to drape herself provocatively across them – although who among us would argue against that? Harpsichords exist for any number of reasons, aside from the will & ingenuity of the person who invented them back in the ancient day. The several harpsichords at Redeemer Presbyterian Church this weekend, for instance, they exist mostly so that Keith Womer and his talented La Follia crew can get some Classical Baroque going with their annual Bach’s Herd of Harpsichords gig. Which glorious event, note, tends to sell out quickly – so grab reservations while you can.