My, how time does fly. It seems like only days ago that we were packed into the Goldsmith for ALADDIN, singing our best renditions of “Prince Ali.” Those days are long gone, and if you’re anything like me, that first-week-of-the-semester bliss has worn off completely. It’s February at Wesleyan, the month of seasonal affective disorder and a whole lot of “30 degrees but feels like 5” on weather.com. The wintery blues have set in, and there’s so little these days that seems worth a walk through the bitter wind chill. Some of us have resigned to hibernation: we gather around our scalding Wesleyan radiators and take to the bottle for warmth. Others of us have found comfort and a most special form of human interaction in the perverse, yet endlessly entertaining game of Chat Roulette.

But this is no way to live, friends. Do whatever it is you have to do—buy yourself a sun lamp, throw another Jersey Shore party, or better yet, slip on your sexiest pair of silk long-underwear and get over to the Film Series. The remaining Friday nights are serious gold: A SERIOUS MAN, THIS IS IT, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, and FANTASTIC MR. FOX (the film that, in a more perfect world, would win Best Picture). At the risk of being too transparent, I will tell you that there’s a hidden genius to the order of those four films. Be sure to see them all if you want to find out.

A SERIOUS MAN
2009. USA. Dir: Joel & Ethan Coen. With Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind. 105 min.
A Midwestern math professor searchers for meaning in Judaism as his life disintegrates with quiet absurdity. The Coens complete their recent trilogy about the folly of trying to understand and control the modern world with this appreciative yet critical considerations of the storytelling and humor inherent to both the Jewish faith and the film medium.
TONIGHT, 2/5 8 p.m. $5

THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN’S CREEK
1944. USA. Dir: Preston Sturges. With Eddie Bracken, Betty Hutton. 98 min.
Small-town gal Trudy Kockenlocker gets a little too generous in sending off the troops, drunkenly marrying an unknown soldier to whom she bids a fond and fantastically fertile farewell. Subversively madcap shenanigans ensue, trying the patience of her harried father and her wacky wuss of a sweetheart.
SATURDAY, 2/6 8 p.m. FREE

FEAR(S) OF THE DARK
2007. France. Dir: Blutch, Charles Burns, Marie Caillou, Pierre Di Sciullo, Lorenzo Mattotti, Richard McGuire. Animated. 85 min.
In this collection of striking black-and-white animated shorts, a selection of visionary cartoonists and graphic artists take on the horror genre, using a range of styles to bring to life their deepest fears – from bugs, needles and “things that go bump in the night” to more existential terrors.
WEDNESDAY, 2/10 8 p.m. $5

“TOUCH AWAY”
2007. Israel. Dir: Ron Ninio. With Henry David, Gaya Traub. 60 min.
The award-winning Israeli TV series centers around the cultural and religious barriers to the impossible romance between an orthodox Israeli girl and a secular Russian immigrant. After screening two episodes, UMASS-Amherst Professor Olga Gershenson will speak.
THURSDAY, 2/11 8 p.m. FREE