Waggle

If you waggle your eyebrows, do you feel better? Try it now and see. Ah... It's all part of the Groucho Marx effect, never formalised, but always effective. Good old Groucho, he of the ludicrous moustache, glasses and wig. Recently I worked my way through 'Animal Crackers', 'Monkey Business', 'Horse Feathers' and 'Duck Soup' and was astounded by how much of the sheer brilliance of the Marx Brothers I had forgotten, and it wasn't all eyebrow waggling!

Ah, the waggle, a universal symbol of levity that would surely infuriate whole brigades of the 'too serious' army that you find everywhere. Yes, the waggle of levity, the waggle of disrespect, the waggle of innuendo, all of them usually misinterpreted. I'm even waggling right now, throwing some of the disappointments of recent days to the wind in a bid to stay optimistic. Take that, waggle loathers of the world.

The last few days could best be described as being uneventful spells in the doldrums, recovery from an exceptionally stressful trip. Maybe the fallout just from being unsuccessful illustrates just why it may not have been a good idea to begin with, or does it simply mean that it was a terribly bad experience after months and months of social isolation? Can anyone go from zero to interview ready in a couple of hours? Have the last few months been overly waggle deficient? They're all good questions, but they shrink into insignificance compared to the cinematic behemoth due to enter the arena this year: Bananaman!

As previously reported, there will be a Bananaman movie in 2015, and it is now being jokingly reported as the beginning of the first phase of the Beano Cinematic Universe. How amazingly weird would that be if it weren't a joke? Is the Bananaman movie a joke itself? It's been kept under such tight wraps for a whole year that it could well be a prank. For sheer potential oddity power it is the most tensely personally awaited film of the year. Be a good film, Bananaman, be a great film. If it weren't a joke, what would the Beano Cinematic Universe look like? We'll find out when we discover if Bananaman is live action, computer animated or traditionally animated. Nothing is known, nothing! Even now, to laboriously carry on the theme, the producers are waggling their eyebrows in potential mirth at the mystery.

O.

Coming soon: A delighted review of 'Ball Of Fire', the Howard Hawks film of 1941, which was utterly lovely. Thank you, world, for the gawky charm of Gary Cooper.

Viewing notes: Several noteworthy episodes zapped by on the screen in the last twenty four hours. There were 'The Addams Family: The Winning Of Morticia Addams', 'Star Trek: Metamorphosis', 'Star Trek TNG: The Measure Of A Man' and 'Mork And Mindy: Mork Learns To See'. They were all stone cold classics, and with every day the past power of television becomes clear: Unification. One of them gets added to the 'Shows so good you cry' list, but to say which would be telling!