The Stranger

It's the opposite of urban flight: The best of Seattle converges in the heart of the city for the Capitol Hill Block Party this weekend. This year's bacchanal boasts its most impressive lineup ever, standing alongside music festivals twice its size. You can't go wrong either day, but Friday—featuring the sugar-boosted metapop of Girl Talk and the socialist, soulful hiphop of Blue Scholars—is simply world class. (Broadway and E Pike St, www.thestranger.com/blockparty. 3 pm, $15, all ages. .) by Jonathan Zwickel

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No, the Comet isn't hosting an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting during the Capitol Hill Block Party (though maybe they should). Rather, they're throwing their own adjoining party with NYC noise-jammers Aa (pronounced "big a, little a"). Aa are three guys on percussion and one on samplers and synthesizers, making a rhythmic racket. Their aerobic live shows are part sweat-soaked vision quest, part ritual dance. With Das Llamas and the Pleasureboaters. (Comet, 922 E Pike St, 323-9853. 11 pm, $5, 21+.) by Eric Grandy

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I've been waiting my whole life to see Daft Punk, or at least since "Da Funk" wormed into my teenage brain over a decade ago and opened new synaptic connections between its "music," "dance," and "robot" regions. I've heard nothing but mind-blown reviews of their rare live performances, with the duo in their signature robot suits, an enormous laser pyramid, and clever reworkings of their club anthems. It's delayed teenage wish fulfillment: Daft Punk are finally here. With the Rapture, SebastiAn, and Kavinsky. (WaMu Theater, 800 Occidental Ave S, 628-0888. 8 pm, $40, all ages.) by Eric Grandy

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This film, by Tsai Ming-Liang, has everything you'd expect from the Taiwanese auteur: long, stationary takes; convenient gaps between floorboards; and glorious preoccupations with water, male bodies, and fluorescent foodstuffs. Since it takes place in Tsai's homeland of Malaysia and concerns exile in a foreign land, it's also his most personal film yet. Come for the oblique homoeroticism, stay for the levitating mattress. (SIFF Cinema at McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St, seattlefilm.org. 9 pm, $8—$10.) by Annie Wagner

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Who is Tao Lin? According to Time Out: "a literary phenomenon—a DIY writer who's making a name for himself without an MFA or a mainstream publisher." Publishers Weekly: "a prolific blogger... for whom the web is an integral part of writing and life." Matt Briggs, writing in this week's Stranger: "He is an infuriating blend of ambition, immature talent, and beautifully aggressive drive." His first two books of fiction are being released simultaneously: Bed and Eeeee Eee Eeee. (Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600. 7:30 pm, free.) by Christopher Frizzelle

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In 1984, a shy, smiling, 19-year-old black kid named Darryl Hunt was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of a white woman and sent to jail for life. What followed was a 20-year legal nightmare, an unbelievable theater of disgust involving smug white lawyers, lots of Christian racists, ignored DNA evidence, intimidated witnesses, gullible TV news reporters, the North Carolina and United States Supreme Courts, and, at the end of it all, the actual killer. Every American should see this movie. (Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 267-5380. 7, 9:15 pm, $5–$8.50. Through Aug 2.) by Christopher Frizzelle

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