Charles Mudede wrote about American movie director Terrence Malick: “We get nothing out of these films but the dead weight of lost hours. Malick has no social information and, worst of all, no humor.” Mudede—a Stranger writer you may have read, but whose meaning you can’t fully grasp until you hear him laugh—is about weight, humor, and socialism (in several senses of that word). Tonight he starts a lecture series, the subject matter of which, if an early version can be trusted, will range from Spinoza to Prince to street markets in Zimbabwe. Afterward, Silas Black will cook you dinner, and then there’s dancing to DJs OCnotes, Bob Catt, and guests. (Vermillion, 1508 11th Ave, vermillionseattle.com, 5 pm, $5/$15 with dinner)