'cause I'm (still) a creep

So we had mini 'bloggers' meetup and film night last night then as in our official capacity, as "tubies" (or something) we checked out new 'horror' film Creep that is in the cinemas at the moment, which we couldn't really not go and see - considering that most of it is based on the tube and filmed in places like Aldwych and the old Jubilee line platforms at Charing Cross.

So is it any good?

Well... to be honest it was "ok". I've seen a lot better films - but I've also seen ones which were a lot worse as well, but I could have course just been enjoying it from the anorak value of trying to work if it really was Down Street where some of the filming happened (it wasn't).

No suprises for guessing quite early on that the young, attractive and blond main character in the film ends up surviving the adventure (just), whilst lots of other people get killed in rather gruesome ways along the way...

There were too many holes to pick about technical inaccuracies, or things that were just physically wrong, but that would just be petty, and you should accept the film for the entertainment it offers - even if the most scary moment (for me) was when the dog first appears! Right, I'll shush now and not spoil the plot anymore.

Afterwards thought, I went home via the Jubilee and changed at a rather empty platform at Bond Steet, and stood up on end with no-one else about and it was a bit spooky!

Just don't fall asleep on a platform though whilst waiting for the last train home after a big night out tonight, you never know what may be lurking in the tunnels...

UPDATE FROM ANNIE

My PC has finally been fixed so I can start blogging from home again, but just wanted to say a quick thanks to all the bloggers who came along to see Creep last night - You may want to read their reviews of Creep which are in brackets - Pixeldiva, Helene - Stroppycow (Helene's Creep Review) Tom from Random Reality, Adrian from Chaotique (Adrian's Creep review), Charles from Purely for Self Amusement Purposes (Chz's Creep Review) and of course Geoff n Neil (Neil's review - She should have waited for a taxi).

Coincidentally Diamond Geezer also went to see Creep last night and has his own review here.

London Underground Song - 1,000 downloads a day

More London Underground Song News



I will stop blogging about this eventually, but the spoof Tube song based on The Jam's classic Going Underground is just so brilliant, I find myself singing every day on the Drain. Anyway, the latest news (kindly brought to me by Marc Mentzer in Saskatchewan, Canada - why does it take someone from Canada to point you to your local newspaper?) is that yesterday The Evening Standard have finally picked up on the song and spoke to one of the writers - Dr Adam Kay.



"More than 50,000 copies of the doctors' version, protesting against strikes and delays, have been downloaded from their website and they are getting around 1,000 emails a day asking for a copy."



This figure obviously doesn't include the thousands copies that were flying around the net days (including Geoff's copy here - blogged on the 11th January) before we discovered who actually wrote it. Plus the many downloads of the flash movie of the song which we blogged on 31st January.



Adam continues: "Having lived in London all my 24 years you get used to the Tube service,



"Once in a while you are three hours late after what should have been a 20-minute journey. It has struck a chord with people. They also like the swear words, they seem to get people going."



After exposure in The Standard it's just going to get bigger and bigger. Nice work guys.

Dust Masks on the Tube

Dust anyone? No... Dust? Dust?



This is going to disappoint Marjorie Dawes and the Fat Fighters Club from Little Britain who loves dust because it is low in calories, but this entry is about the nastier side of dust and how to avoid it on the tube.



People who read the comments would have noticed commenting regular Anthony Smith with his one man campaign to promote the wearing of dust masks on the Tube. Recently he asked me why we never blogged it and although I think I have blogged about dust levels on the Tube in the past, I said, I'd never seen anyone wearing a dust mask on the Tube, but if he would like to send in a picture of himself wearing one, that I would blog it.



Sooooooo, no sooner said than done, we have the brill picture of Anthony resplendant in 3M dust mask reading a copy of Tuesday's Metro which featured a picture of a woman wearing a dust mask.



I'm sure people will now prove me wrong by saying they have seen loads of people wearing dust masks on the Tube. I'm not sure seeing a Japanese person in a mask counts, because don't they wear masks if they have colds to prevent themselves spreading germs? correct me on this, I'm not a doctor or an expert in Japanese culture.



Anyway, Anthony also went a step further and supplied a picture of a new mask next to one which has several days/hours/minutes????? use on the Tube.



Not in the news that recently, but I do remember reading something about travelling on the Tube being the equivalent of smoking 10 fags a day (or some such figure) and in the past people have sent me delightful emails describing the contents of their handkerchiefs after they've blown their nose after a morning's commute.







Anthony has now produced a webpage with some more information on the masks which he'll be updating over the weeks to come.

A request.....Any tube sounds for an art installation?

Does anyone have any underground noises?



I had a request from an artist in Chicago whose oil painting of a tube map has been selected to as an entrant in a Winter Art Festival in Chicago, and the picture wil be displayed in their gallery on 11 - 13th February.



He wondered if I knew of anywhere where he could get some background sounds of the Tube, to use as background "music" to add to the effect of his installation (more pictures here).



"Sounds of the roaring trains, their brakes, the crowd on the platform and in the trains, various buskers, dogs, and especially the lady's voice saying things like, 'please stand clear of the doors,' or 'this is a Bakerloo Line train to Elephant & Castle,' and all the other wonderful things she says. Even that man who shouts out so loud over and over about the Gap, why not."



I directed him to the two usual suspects that I know although the former are just official pre-recorded announcements and the latter toward the bottom of the page has some more "in situ" announcements with accompanying Tube train noises. I even sent him a recording of some Tube buskers singing Going Underground (not the spoof one).



If anyone knows of any other places that have Tube sounds Alan Nazerian would love to hear or even if you fancy going out and recording some for him, you know that people in an art gallery in Chicago may well be listening to them. His contact details are at the bottom of his webpage.

Escalator Etiquette

Escalator Blues



Yesterday when I was coming up on the escalator at Waterloo, I remembered that another thing that makes tourists stand out a mile is how they stand on escalators. Not just the annoying way they will stand two abreast or stand on the right even when there are loads and loads of signs saying "stand to the left" (Freudian Slip right). But it's when they stand right behind you. Everyone knows that you're supposed to leave a step in between you and the person in front of you. Or maybe this has happened because they've been doing the annoying two abreast thing and then someone has made them realsie the error of their ways and they've moved into titcy one step space remaining.



Also on the subject of escalators Rob from the Londonist reminded me today that there's a cool song by a band called Florida about finding love on an escalator. The song is a duet between a bloke who pines for a woman who passes him on an escalator and a hypothetical version of the girl in question. You can download it here.