(Photo: Alexander Iziliaev (BalletX); Courtesy of Paramount Pictures (Florence Foster Jenkins); Courtesy of AMC (Halt and Catch Fire); Courtesy of CBS (Star Trek))

Movies
1. See Florence Foster Jenkins
Glass-shattering fun.�
The cult of “bad art” finds heroes whose mix of ineptitude and ambition gave them a type of immortality — like Florence Foster Jenkins. Nearly 75 years ago, her paint-peeling stabs at the soprano canon took her to Carnegie Hall. Given her odd stature, it seems fitting that our least-honored singer is played by our most-honored thespian, Meryl Streep. And since director Stephen Frears is a humanist to the core, the film should have more on its mind than letting you laugh at a fool. —David Edelstein
In theaters August 12.

Pop
2. Go to Fool’s Gold Day Off
With a lit lineup.�
Brooklyn rap/dance imprint Fool’s Gold’s annual event has grown into a premier end-of-summer party. The seventh annual Day Off hits with New York rhymers Dave East, Meyhem Lauren, and Juelz Santana; Atlanta rappers Lil Yachty and Migos; electronic stars the Gaslamp Killer and Nick Catchdubs; and Fool’s Gold label head (and famed producer-DJ) A-Trak. —Craig Jenkins
34th Street Heliport, August 20.

TV
3. Watch I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
Steve Aoki’s high-decibel life.
Justin Krook tells the engrossing story of Steve Aoki, one of EDM’s biggest stars, on the eve of a major show. We see him start a record label from his dorm room and struggle to differentiate himself from his dad, Benihana founder Rocky Aoki. Not many films this bittersweet have such a killer soundtrack. —Matt Zoller Seitz
Netflix, August 19.

Cabaret
4. Hear Carmen Cusack
Bright star returns.�
It may seem that Carmen Cusack, whose stellar Broadway debut in Bright Star earned her a Tony nomination, came out of nowhere, but no great performer does. She’s been a West End Fantine and a National Tour Elphaba, among plenty of other roles just beyond the limelight. Expect to hear the tale (and the songs that accompany it) when the incisive, thrilling singer premieres her club act here. —Jesse Green
Feinstein’s/54Below, August 9, 11, 14, and 16.

Pop
5. Listen to Real
Lydia Loveless is the genuine article.�
The 25-year-old Ohio singer-songwriter Lydia Loveless’s cool mix of punk, rock, and country values remains as sharp as ever on her fourth album. From the wistful “More Than Ever” and “Midwestern Guys” to rippers like “Longer,” Loveless’s smoky vocals and searing guitar light the way.� —C.J.
Bloodshot Records, August 19.

Dance
6. See BalletX
Keeping the form fresh.�
This modern ballet troupe from Philly has an appetite for new work and dancers adventurous (and well-trained) enough to try anything. Here, three intriguing dance-makers contribute: BalletX co-founder Matthew Neenan, Jorma Elo, and Trey McIntrye. —Rebecca Milzoff
Joyce Theater, August 16 through 21.

Art
7. See Moholy-Nagy: Future Present
A visionary who influenced a generation.�
One of the first multidisciplinary modernists, László Moholy-Nagy believed art and design could change the world and that revolution was a creative force. Come see his photographs, abstract paintings that look like machine parts, and wonderful geometric configurations that seem to lay out grand schemes for millions of people to live. —Jerry Saltz
Guggenheim Museum, through September 7.

Opera
8. Hear Così fan Tutte
Imagine the high jinks!�
Mozart’s irresistibly cynical, ebullient opera comes to Mostly Mozart in a performance imported from Aix-en-Provence. The original was a brutal affair; New Yorkers will have to make do with a staged concert, featuring the taut Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under Louis Langrée. —Justin Davidson
Alice Tully Hall, August 15.

TV
9. Watch Halt and Catch Fire
Still worth catching up for season three.
The underrated drama about the dawn of PCs and the net shifts action from Silicon Prairie to Silicon Valley, but the relationships among the tech pioneers (played by Lee Pace, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, and Kerry Bishé) will no doubt remain just as compellingly fraught. —Jen Chaney
AMC, August 23 at 9 p.m.

Theater
10. See Quincy Tyler Bernstine in Small Mouth Sounds
Amazing specificity, without words.�
That she says almost nothing in the course of 100 minutes does not in itself make Quincy Tyler Bernstine stand out from the superb ensemble of Bess Wohl’s play, set at a silent retreat. But Bernstine, an invaluable Off Broadway player, is expert at exploring the many varieties and causes of quietness: tact, impotence, repression, and, here, anger. —J.G.
Pershing Square Signature Center, through September 25.

Books
11. Read Another Brooklyn
A vivid, personal story, gracefully told.�
In her first adult novel in 20 years, children’s-book author Jacqueline Woodson (her 2014 Brown Girls Dreaming won a National Book Award) tells the story of girlfriends growing up in ’70s Brooklyn. It’s brought to lyrical maturity in the voice of August, who flashes back to her youth after returning to the borough to bury her father. —Boris Kachka
HarperCollins.

Movies
12. See Purple Rain
Expect some singing-along, too.�
Let’s hope the rain is only metaphorical during this Flicks on the Beach screening of Prince’s wildly successful attempt to turn himself into a combo of Jimi Hendrix and James Dean. Its treatment of women hasn’t held up well, but “When Doves Cry,” the title song, and a handful of others are immortal. —D.E.
Coney Island Boardwalk, August 15.

Classical Music
13. Hear International Contemporary Ensemble
A composer cornucopia.�
Bringing some heat to the Mostly Mozart Festival, ICE performs five new concertos by composers — Dai Fujikura, Anthony Cheung, Marcos Balter, and Wang Lu — who make for a group portrait of the globalized new-music world; it’s also a chance to see Karina Canellakis conduct. —J.D.
Merkin Concert Hall, August 23.

Art
14. See Divine Pleasures
The good life.
Gods cavorting and canoodling; lovers behaving as lovers do; beasts in trees. Nearly 100 masterpieces of Indian court painting from the 16th to 19th centuries will pull you out of the city’s furnace and into an inner paradise of sweetness, aristocratic life, fashion, and of course gods seducing humans. —J.S.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, through September 12.

TV
15. Watch Comet
A window into Sam Esmail’s mind.
With Mr. Robot in its second season, it’s time to revisit 2014’s Comet, creator Sam Esmail’s first feature. A look at various moments in an ill-fated love affair, it eschews linear storytelling in a way that feels like a sneak preview of Mr. Robot’s uneasy, surreal vibe. It may not help you understand what the hell is happening on the show, but it will add another layer to your (mis)understanding. —J.C.
Netflix.

Books
16. See John Strausbaugh
Stories straight from the streets.
City of Sedition, the latest from the punky people’s historian and Times “Weekend Explorer,” is the definitive account of a well-trodden but little-understood pocket of history: New York’s very divided loyalties over the Civil War. Hear a natural talker tell tales out of school. —B.K.
BookCourt, August 17.

Pop
17. See Black Sabbath
Not with a whimper, but a roar.�
The metal progenitors’ current tour carries the ominous title of “The End” for good reason. After terrorizing the world for five decades, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler are anxious to end on a graceful note. Their farewell tour was supposed to close in April, but a second leg was added; don’t miss your blessing. —C.J.
Nikon at Jones Beach Theater, August 17.

TV
18. Watch Star Trek: The Original Series
In the beginning …
September marks the 50th anniversary of Star Trek, which boldly went where no series had … Dammit, Jim! This is a blurb, not a eulogy! Now’s the time to watch season one, starting with the Harlan Ellison–scripted “The City on the Edge of Forever”; it’s the closest thing to a tearjerker that Gene Roddenberry & Co. ever devised. —M.Z.S.
Hulu.

Pop
19. See The My2K Tour
Everybody screeeeam!
Children of the late ’90s/early aughts should run to catch once-momentarily-hot pop wonders 98 Degrees, O-Town, and Dream, who are still alive and, apparently, singing. Hearing “Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche)” on the beach should feel like an epic convergence of “art” and life.
Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk, August 17.

Movies
20. See Into the Forest
A female-empowerment myth.
The theme of sisters doing it for each other is rarely dramatized so literally as in this postapocalyptic saga of two siblings attempting to keep each other’s spirits up after an apparently conclusive power outage. Patricia Rozema’s pacing is languid and sometimes even lyrical, and Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood have an intense, moving rapport. —D.E.
In theaters.

Art
21. See The Female Gaze, Part Two
At a gallery dedicated to strong women artists.
Great artists who happen to be women turn their gaze on the male subject, and the results are stunning, from Louise Bourgeois’s mauled hanging phallus to male pubic hair lovingly rendered by Sylvia Sleigh. Go gaze; maybe get hot. —J.S.
Cheim & Read, through September 2.

Theater
22. See Summer Shorts 2016
Punchy themes, quick resolutions.
Second-act problems, so common in new plays, don’t exist in one-acts and other bite-size dramas. That’s why this festival (two programs of three brief plays each) is often such a relief. Its tenth season offers established playwrights like Neil LaBute and Cusi Cram in Program A and Alexander Dinelaris in Program B, plus newer names in both. —J.G.
59E59 Theaters, through September 3.

Pop
23. Go to Full Moon Festival
Bop along, beachside.
Consider this an appealing alternative to Governors Ball and Panorama (and their White Walker army of drunken teenagers). It’s smaller and hipper, with a lineup that requires a more in-the-know attendee (Pusha T, SBTRKT, and Santigold).
Governors Island, August 20 and 21.

TV
24. Watch Survivor’s Remorse
Jump into the game at halftime.
This LeBron James–produced look at how a rising NBA star and his relatives handle new wealth has upped its game in season three. Use this week’s episode — in which a photo shoot for Cam (Jessie T. Usher) leads to charged conversations — to check in. —J.C.
Starz, August 14 at 10 p.m.

Classical Music
25. Hear Puccini and His World
Take a break, go upstate.�
Every summer, scholars and musicians gather at Bard to dive into the life and work of a single composer. This year, it’s Puccini. Torn between Realism and Romanticism, he was a nemesis of the Italian Futurists, who agitated for music as an unsentimental force. The two come together on a typically surprising program featuring Puccini’s Scossa Elettrica (Electric Shock), a tribute to the scientist Alessandro Volta. —J.D.
Fisher Center at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., August 12.