• Two Boots Den of Cin

  44 Avenue A, 212-254-0800; twoboots.com/theden

  If you’ve ever stared into the mirror and snarled, “You talkin’ to me?,” you’ve now got a new way to channel your inner De Niro: Movieoke, a high-concept cross between karaoke and open-mike night, in which brave film buffs clamber onstage at Two Boots Den of Cin. There, standing before a projection screen and aided by subtitles, amateur actors re-enact beloved scenes from such classics as The Breakfast Club, Full Metal Jacket, and Showgirls. The brainchild of Anastasia Fite—whose own performance of the naked hippie seduction song from The Wicker Man has already passed into East Village legend—Movieoke attracts almost as many TV-news crews as run-of-the-mill attention whores, so there’s a good chance your amateur antics will get broadcast on CNN, or at least Japanese cable. Action!

From the 2004 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine