Tonight, Occupy Wall Street will be offering a response to the State of the Union address, following any Republican/Tea Party response. (They'll be doing it live from D.C.) Occupy's publicist has embargoed the response speech until after the State of the Union, but it's not really worth printing anyway. (Also: yup, publicist, and yes, embargoed press releases. Hoo boy.) The language of the speech is bombastic yet vague, unspecific and sort of… narcissistic? Lots of rambling about how politics is bought and paid for, yadda yadda. (I mean, yes, that's true! But it's just atmospherics; why not name some names then?) About half of its claims are reminiscent of [...]

• New on Netflix Instant: that Aaron Eckhart movie that no one saw that you never wanted to see!

• Gloria is the midnight movie at IFC this weekend!

• Ryan Trecartin at PS1 on Sunday. (All the art gays in one place!)

• I will totally watch "TNT's non-groundbreaking but absorbing" new alien show, "Falling Skies," on Sunday.

• It is the Northside Festival in Brooklyniamsburgpoint if you like music and festivities and lots of them. (Yacht is playing Sunday and everyone seems excited.)

• And a kooky group show opens at the gallery called Canada on Sunday. It's about… [...]

Lars Jan is walking up to his crew and asking if they are comfortable. He moves toward Chat Logs– the noisier half of his team of musicians. It's hard to say if they are comfortable, really. They are about to play the Whitney Museum of Modern Art, the crowd is getting rather large and they are hooked up to a Martin Kersels sculpture that wasn't really intended to promote sound. They are turning knobs and shifting their weight around. They say they are comfortable and talk about the noise ending. They have had one rehearsal. They have never played with the other composer/band in the performance. This is [...]

It's almost over! This awful summer of death and disaster will soon give way to a glorious season of overall pleasantness: we're of course talking about fall TV programing and prestige movie releases! By the autumnal equinox, our stiff souls will be kindled by the warm glow of really neat stuff on the screen. It's like springtime for the indoor set. So come, little seedlings, let the winds of quality carry us through what's two weeks out.

The leader of the social skating group Wednesday Night Skate goes by the alter ego Mocha Superman. "Since this is technically an illegal street event," he said, "I try to keep my real name out of it." Last Wednesday evening he arrived in Union Square and ditched his collared shirt in favor of a red WNS tee and added wrist guards and a black bandanna. "It's part of the double life thing," he said. "Call me Clark Kent."

WNS started in May of 1996 as Blade Night Manhattan, and switched to its current name in 2001. Mocha got involved the next year and, "because I'm a control freak" [...]

• There are a million places to take a new summer lover this weekend. (Besides the beach and the zoo. The zoo, even if it is evil, is at least a great spot for a date.) In particular, in New York: the Figment Project, which is a loose pile of activities, performances and general weirdnesses. (Much of it overly organic or a bit twee!) Governors Island is going to be a total freakshow. Get your face painted, hippie.

• "The Architecture of Doom" just recently went on Netflix Instant. The 20-year-old documentary is about what kind of buildings Hitler really liked!

• Saturday is World Naked [...]

From time to time, The Awl likes to explain to Internet denizens what the world beyond the great inside is like. Here is one such explanation, describing a recent trip to locations on the Eastern seaboard of the United States.

We had missed the parade. Or maybe it was somewhere else. The sidewalk was packed with bad faces. A guy had his pants down and was trying to walk. The cops were wearing long leather jackets. I grew up in Jersey, and I remembered bad faces, but I couldn't remember cops ever wearing jackets like that, leather and big gold buttons. Every bar had a line out the door. [...]

Help a tourist! "I know this is a semi-silly question with near infinite possibilities for answers, but what should I be doing to feel a little less like a tourist while I'm in Manhattan this weekend?"

• Aww, tonight at 7:30 pm (EST) the final episode of Radio Happy Hour takes place live and live-streaming on the internet, with guests including Awl pal Mike Doughty and others.

• And tonight Lev Grossman is reading at the 82nd Street B&N.

• Expiring soon on Netflix Instant! Margot Kidder in Black Christmas and that Wilco documentary. And new on Netflix Instant: Madonna: Truth or Dare and Passion Fish!

• There is a big fun group show opening at Kunsthalle Galapagos (say that 10 times fast) on Saturday evening.

• Also on Saturday, at Union Hall, it's Back to Black, a (sincere) dance party/"neosoul [...]

There was a free corporate-sponsored event this weekend! Billed as a multimedia arts venture, the event took place in the meat packing district of some city. It was one of a handful of events that will be held internationally this summer, offering up exciting artistic experiences across several technological platforms. It was a music festival featuring a bunch of hot acts. It was also an art show with interactive exhibitions. There were film screenings, including one from a highly acclaimed director. Some companies provided food, and still other companies kept bars stocked with beverages, both alcoholic and otherwise. All for free. It was an embarrassment of riches!

And now, our irregular but handy guide to happenings in New York, L.A. and the rest of the world! Oh hey, remember when MTV's video music awards had some level of relevance in our lives? No? Wait, what about when Jean-Paul Gaultier designed Madonna's colonial orgy for the VMA's. It was such a delicious confection of fashion, pop, and spectacle; everyone was like "oooh, this is pretty AND IMPORTANT!" Has such a theatrical, crazed moment played out on the VMA stage since? Well no. Even when Kanye or Fall Out Angel Waves or whomever does a ditty for the broadcast, it always feels like some afterthought [...]