Sim Carter: Past Tense Imperfect

I shared a new featurette on my book to movie site, Chapter1-Take1 this morning. It's a promo video for Far From the Madding Crowd starring Carey Mulligan. If you're curious Chapter1-Take1 is where I follow what's happening in the world of screen adaptations. Don't snigger; I know it's dorky: you've got your hobbies, your sports teams, your kitty cat videos, your bacon addiction, you've got your geeky guide to whatever, I've got mine. I shared this with my readers over there this morning—there are a few more of them than there are of you—but in lieu of something with more heft, here ya go. Carey Mulligan's broken down car in Drive was my husband's embarrassing clunker Because I live in Hollywoodland and I'm married to a guy who works in Hollywoodland, every once in a great while, the people I write about are people I've met somewhere along the line in this non-city. As it happens I met Carey once.   She wouldn't remembe...

If you follow me at Chapter1-Take1 you know I'm conflicted about this week's newest Disney release, a live action Cinderella directed by Kenneth Branagh . Bizarre timing considering it's International Women's Week! Is it a fun, frothy, girlish fantasy or is it another example of women unable to part with a deeply buried inner Cinderella complex; that outmoded desire to have Prince Charming come along and rescue us. To save us from the mundane business of succeeding in the world, an issue that really came to the fore in the 70's when I was coming of age and the women's movement was liberating many of my fellow boomer females from our apron strings. We were suddenly free to go out into the world just like the men. Ah, but what to do when we got there? We knew how to be wives and mothers, that was imprinted on our feminine DNA, but how to climb the corporate ladder, how to make our way in the new world? Colette Dowling who coined the term The Cinderella Complex,  ...