"The Adventures of Mark Twain"

Spooky and little-known animated film about Mark Twain and his journey towards death.

Mark Twain lived as he died - with drama.

He was born on 30 November 1835, exactly two weeks after a comet called Halley's Comet's came closest to the sun.  This comet only orbits the earth every 75 years, and Twain died in 1910 - the day after the comet returned.

The strange thing is that Twain predicted his own death.

"I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year (1910), and I expect to go out with it.... The Almighty has said, no doubt: 'Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together."

This quotation formed the basis of a little-known stop-motion animation, "The Adventures of Mark Twain".   The 1985 film tells the story of Twain as he attempts to keep his "appointment" with Halley's Comet.

Traveling on an airship with three of his literary characters (Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Becky), sketches from works such as "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", "The Diary of Adam and Eve" and "The Damned Human Race" form the basis of the film.

Watch the film here on youtube:  (go to the end of the page if you just want to see the most interesting scene.. starring Satan).

The freakiest scene in the film comes from "The Mysterious Stranger" - Twain's final, unfinished novel. The novel addresses his ideas of the "Moral Sense" and the "damned human race".  It involves the character of Satan.

The Little Prince

My God Daughter's christening is tomorrow, and my mother instructed me to buy her something that "she will have forever".  Well, whatever I got for my Christening (a silver spoon?  a rattle?) is long gone.  So what kind of gift will you really have forever?  Answer:  A book.

This led me to a book shop where I bought a hard-backed copy of "The Little Prince", and promptly started spazzing-out with the shop assistant about what an incredibly, amazing work of literature it is.

I like it just a little bit!

It's ostensibly a children's book, and for a child it's a great read.  But when I picked it up again as a teenager, I realised what a rare gem it is.


It tells the story of a man who, stranded in the desert, meets a strange little boy.  This little Prince has left his home planet to explore the universe.  Through his adventures, and his innocence, the book makes touching observations about life and human nature.

For me, the most potent moments in the book are the relationship he develops with the little fox that begs to be tamed ("You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed"), and his departure from the planet, which leaves the narrator and reader in a state of ambiguity about life and the after-life.

Originally written in French by the writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery (who did many of the illustrations), it's less than 100 pages long, and it's just beautiful.  Read it here. 


A graphic novel has just been brought out.  For me it's sacrilegious, but out of interest... 


And if you're lazy, you can always watch the cartoon ;)