In the pink

"Young Adult," the new filmed-in-Minnesota feature reuniting "Juno" Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody's and director Jason Reitman, has its first poster. Like the teen novels it parodies, it's pretty and shiny and bubblegum pink and angsty like a Judy Blume bad dream. There's something about that blonde ragamuffin's posture that says "Ugggh ... hung over ... whose bed am I in?" rather than "Oh, I think I'll reach down and have a refreshing swig of Diet Coke." And that little purse dog's eyes? They just follow you. The film, which shot in Minneapolis for two days last October, stars Charlize Theron as a divorced kids'-book writer stalking her old high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson), who is now a married father. Patton Oswalt has a supporting role as an acquaintance who had a parallel crush on Theron's character. The film opens in December.

  • COLIN COVERT

Blondie has more fun

Her hair looked a bit like a platinum Andy Warhol fright wig. But the cheekbones, that nose and those lips are unmistakably Debbie Harry. At 66, the revered female rock icon still cut an arresting figure Sunday at Mystic Lake Casino. But, more important than the look, the presence and that pout, she still has the voice -- that high, chiming lilt, floating over those new-wave rhythms like a skilled surfer riding a wave. With a pretty exciting CD about to drop Tuesday (its first album in eight years), her band Blondie seemed spirited, tight and happy to be playing five new songs. Harry was pleased to report that they'd gone to the Mall of America with "the kids" (guitarist Chris Stein has two youngsters and Harry is their godmother) and stuffed teddy bears. But maybe Blondie showed its true colors with a version of the Beastie Boys' "Fight for Your Right (To Party)" before a closing flourish of "One Way or Another" and "Heart of Glass."

  • JON BREAM

Hard Rock vs. Triple Rock

The year was 2003. First Avenue was hurting financially, other rock clubs were few and far between, and one new downtown monstrosity threatened to tip the gentrification scales in the eyes of the guy who would go on to write some of the best songs about Minneapolis: "The last time I was in town, I saw that Hard Rock Cafe across the street from First Avenue and was just nauseated." So said Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn when his old band, Lifter Puller, reunited for the opening of the Triple Rock, which he believed "confirms that the scene's not lying down -- that independent music is still alive and thriving in the Twin Cities." A little dramatic, maybe, but now more than a little true. Word now is the Hard Rock will close by the end of the month. We hear First Ave staffers half-jokingly inquired about purchasing the Cafe's giant neon guitar.

Star Tribune, Star Tribune
Director Jason Reitman and Charlize Theron shot "Young Adult" in the IDS Center in Minneapolis last fall.

  • CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Scoreless

The Score is no more -- at least to most of its small, but faithful band of listeners. KFXN, as it's formally known, was donated by Clear Channel to the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council last summer, but the format, consisting of syndicated sports hosts like Jim Rome and Dan Patrick, remained the same -- until this month. It has now switched over to a Hmong radio station. The last two hours of "The Dan Patrick Show" can still be heard most evenings on KFXN's former big brother station, KFAN, which recently shifted to 100.3 FM. Those with high-definition radio can still catch the Score at 107.9 HD2. Clear Channel will look at bringing the Score back to mainstream radio in the future.

  • NEAL JUSTIN

Oral fixation

Justin Colucci was crowned the winner Tuesday of Acme Comedy Company's "Funniest Person in the Twin Cities." He triumphed with a three-minute, Steven Wright-esque set of deadpan, ironic observations. Good stuff. Not so good: A woman who told a single three-minute joke about giving her old-timer husband oral sex. Three minutes is an eternity onstage, especially when said comedian is going over every excruciating detail.

  • TOM HORGEN

Smart about art

Ya gotta love a guy who can judge the State Fair Fine Arts show and come out quoting Kierkegaard. That would be photographer-about-town Sean Smuda, who blinked through more than 700 photos submitted for this year's centennial exhibit. On his MNartists.org blog, he rants about the vertigo induced by having to judge stuff at the rate of "1.6-works-per-minute" and praises the art show's new superintendent, Jim Clark, for his stellar job of hanging the art. And to those who didn't make the cut, he has some smart advice: "Rather than insult the competence of the judges, I would encourage a Kierkegaardian awareness that the individual must occasionally attempt a 'so-selfish it's selfless' sacrifice to gain faith. That it may lead, through a sense of infinite resignation to a state of immediacy where the spirit requires higher form." OK, now, got that?

  • MARY ABBE

A big fanfare

Minnesota Brass made history Sunday in Rochester, N.Y., by winning the first title in the St. Paul drum and bugle corps' 65-year existence. But all trumpeter Eric Crawford could think about as its victory was announced at the 2011 DCA World Championships was color-guard member Laura Mazurs. Amid the celebrating in a torrential downpour, Crawford walked up to his girlfriend, dropped to one knee on the stadium's artificial turf and asked her to marry him. "She said YES!!!!" he posted on Facebook soon after from his cellphone. The newly engaged couple got a nice surprise when horn players from the Govenaires, the Class A champion from St. Peter, Minn., spontaneously broke into the "Wedding March" when the news spread. Said Crawford: "That was the icing on the cake."

  • RANDY A. SALAS