Movieoke!

So it's another Monday night. You can either go home from work and pop in a movie...or you can head over to the Whistler in Logan Square and be a part of the movie! I'm talking about Movieoke. And the first Monday of this month, I did just that.

Now, I've got to say...I'm a karaoke kind of guy. So naturally when I first heard the concept of Movieoke, I was intrigued. To be a rock star on stage can only be trumped by starring in my favorite movie. But what scene to do...

The set-up is pretty much the same as karaoke. A brave guy gets up on stage, holds a microphone in his hand and reads lines off of a prompter. No problem. As both a student-reporter and a karaoke-extraordinaire, I could do this in my sleep!! ...Or could I?

While I was there, I had a chance to watch some incredible performances. The Big Lebowski, Office Space, Scream, 40-year-old-version and of course...Star Wars are some of the favorites. It was interesting to watch every one's adaptation of these famous scenes. Some people jumped on stage and owned it. Some were not as fantastic...which made it all the more hysterical. ;P

But still, I couldn't decide which movie to do. Maybe I'd go and talk to Chicago Movieoke creator Katy Collins for a little inspiration. She's the local actress who brought movieoke to the waiting arms of thespians all over Chicago.

Katy offered this bit of advice: "Just go up and act." AHHH! But there was something that I had forgotten to mention...I am no actor!!!!

I remember dreaming of being a movie star back in Los Angeles, but that fantasy was struck down in high school when I took my first acting class. Improv and monologues killed me quickly. The idea of going up and acting out a scene NOW was making me shake in my boots. It was definitely not going to happen--at least 'Not Tonight.' Hmmm, now there's a Depeche Mode song I'd like to karaoke to! But I digress...the long and short of it is that your boy was too chicken to get up on stage. But don't get it twisted, I had an amazing time! And I will be back next month to see if I can make myself break out of my shell a bit. But until that day, watching Movieoke is just as fun as performing Movieoke. At least that's how I look at it.

If you want to check out Movieoke, take a look at these websites:

http://chicagomovieoke.com/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=97829464220

http://www.whistlerchicago.com/