Great alt-weeklys sometimes think alike: Vita.mn and City Pages are both hosting free, outdoor movies-and-music series over the next two months, each with their own playful twists on the popular Walker Art series in Loring Park that set the standard (but was disappointingly shelved this year).

In City Pages' "Four Nights in Loring" series -- which kicked off last night and continues the next three Tuesdays in Loring Park – all of the movies have Minnesota connections. There will also be afterparties each night following the movies a few blocks away at Nick & Eddie's. Here is the rest of the lineup: AUG. 10: Marijuana Deathsquads (with P.O.S. and Gayngs members) with "Fargo;" afterparty: City on the Make / AUG. 17: Mayda with "Juno;" afterparty: Pink Mink / AUG. 24: Red Pens with "Nobody;" afterparty: the Goondas Vita.mn's "Autumn Music & Movies" series returns Friday nights Sept. 3-24 to the picturesque Lake Harriet Bandshell, one of the best places to see live music in Minneapolis. Just like last year's series -- which included such memorable scenes as Alan and Mimi of Low reciting lines from "Jaws" -- the movies were selected by that night's performing musicians. Only one of the 2010 participants went the arty-farty route, and the others were unabashedly populist. Here's the lineup each week: SEPT. 3: Solid Gold with "Point Break" / SEPT. 10: The Twilight Hours with "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" / SEPT. 17: Doomtree with "Back to the Future" (how many rhymes can you make off "McFly!") / SEPT. 24: Mark Mallman with "Star Wars" (Mallman is never one to think small)