It’s that time of year again here in NYC. The tangy fragrance of the nouveau riche clouds the West Side of Manhattan as people crowd Armory 94, the home of the annual Armory Show. Unlike Art Basel Miami Beach — the Armory Show’s only US competitor in terms of scale — there are no café con leches, no quick breaks on South Beach and definitely no thongs. Instead, we get a crappy Londontown drizzle.

But brave this weekend’s winter weather redux with this To-Do List, New Yorkers. Here’s a map. Now, go get your culture on.

1. Armory Show
The show is $30 but, hey, it’s massive. I wouldn’t expect to see much in terms of cutting-edge work here. This is the marketplace, this is where the big bucks stroll. Think of it as an uber-museum juiced up on green-dollar Viagras.

2. Scope
Scope is the David Letterman of the fairs: a happy #2. It’s scope (sorry!) is focused on younger, more experimental artists. $15.

3. PULSE
Also $15.

4. Bridge
Bridge parties all weekend, topping off with the Williamsburg After Dark After Party at Supreme Trading on Saturday. Keep in mind that all Billyburg galleries will be open late this weekend, just in case you want to keep it anti-commercial or what-have-you.

5. Art Now Fair

6. DiVA
Some video art for ya, stationed in storage units lining the streets of Chelsea. Yup, it’s free.

7. LA Art in New York
$10? Really?

8. POOL
A must-see, three thumbs up.

9. Red Dot
Very consistently worth a peek.

10. Volta
Use the Armory Show card to gain admission here as well.

One way to attack all this art is either go big or go small. Go Armory, or choose two or three parasitical fairs. Besides that, enjoy! Notice, I haven’t listed the Dark Fair above because I’m keeping that one for myself. (Probably the most interesting offering this season.)

For those of you who love contemporary art, the place to be this weekend is New York City’s extensive annual Art Fairs. Yesterday, I headed down to Chelsea’s Waterfront to first check out the Bridge Art Fair (The Waterfront; 222 12th Ave. & 269 11th Ave.), known for stellar shows of emerging contemporary art in London, Chicago, and Miami.

Marking the transition of Bridge from a national to an international art fair, this year’s spotlight is on never-before-seen contemporary work from Asia. Invited galleries are participating from Taipei, Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo and elsewhere across the Pacific Rim.

One of the best showings was the Ark Galerie from Jakarta, Indonesia, which brought a brilliant installation by young Indonesian artist, Eko Nugroho (see image below). The Yogyakarta-based, politically savvy artist is known for his humorous visual commentaries on the socio-political tip and is at the forefront of a new generation of rebellious Indonesian artists who mark the departure from the gloomy, violent aesthetics that characterized the arts during the tumultuous 1980s and 90s in Indonesia.

Blending classic Chinese painting techniques with a 21st-century pop aesthetic, the works of Taiwan’s leading artist, J. C Kuo (Asian Art Center; Taiwan) were also remarkable. Given the focus on Asia, two pieces of Warhol’s Mao series were also on display. Sweet.

After feasting on the eye candies at the Bridge Art Fair, I also checked out the LA Art in New York fair (125 & 135 W. 18th St.). Here, I would highly recommend the collection of Roberts & Tilton and the Mary Goldman Gallery for an edgier, more daring collection of multimedia works. The Roberts & Tilton gallery featured, among others, a lovely piece by legendary street-artist Barry McGee, as well as representative work from LA’s thriving pop surrealist scene.

The exhibitions will run from March 27, 2008 through March 30, 2008.

Acronym-izing “you’re only young once”, Yo Yo is the infamous night pioneered by Seb Chew and Leo Greenslade. The West London urban hot spot has played host to talent across the board including TRACE sweethearts Lilly Allen and Santogold and it’s not uncommon to see Mark Ronson dropping by for a spin.

The music policy is varied with an eclectic mix of everything from 80’s classics through to hip hop, R’n'B, ragga and even a touch of old skool drum n’ bass. Leaving their usual weekly London spot for the first time in six years, Yo Yo will be gracing Miami’s Delano tonight and tomorrow with spinsters DJ Medhi, A-Trak and, of coruse, Mark Ronson.

So if you fancy a little boogie, or are already there lapping up the energy that surrounds the Miami winter music conference, check it out here.

So says Arteamericas, the Latin American art fair exhibiting this weekend in Miami Beach, Florida. Unbeknownst to many, Miami boasts a contemporary art scene that rivals, if not surpasses that of international art metropolis New York City. Blame it on the beaches or provocatively sunny weather, but has just the right amount of desire, will and affectation to make it fierce competitor for the media-buzz celebrity-driven cultural arts attention long coveted by New York City.

Although only in its sixth year, Art Miami Beach (the American counterpart to the famously chic Art Basel Switzerland) is likely the most important annual arts showcase in the United States—sorry, Whitney Biennial. Arteamericas provides Miami tantalizing respite necessary to bridge the time between the exhaustive Art Miami/Design Miami city takeover during December and the tourist playground the city becomes during the summer months.

Less monstrous than its winter cousin, Arteamericas appears quirky and intimate. The event bills itself as “the premier art fair from Latin America” and encompasses seventy one high-quality galleries “representing 300 emerging artists and renowned masters.”

I love Latin American art and it’s in the midst of a revolution no art institution can afford to ignore. Works by Eugenio Espinoza and Grupo Escombros show promise.

Get a little hot here.