We have confirmed that a test screening of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE 2005 was held in California a little more than a fortnight ago, so it appears that the poster at the IMDb who claimed to have attended a screening was most likely legitimate. (We hasten to add, however, that the point of a test screening is to fine-tune a film, so what that person saw will most likely be different from the finished product.) Our contact did not attend the screening but says he heard it went very well. (Better and better!)

However, our contact tells us that the U.S. and Canadian release date has not yet been determined, though it should be decided within a month or so. The film definitely will NOT be released in the spring. There is no trailer as yet, but news on that will be forthcoming shortly as well.

We noticed that the Focus Features Web site includes a link to an “official site” on the P&P3 page; however, it leads to the site for another film. Our contact said that once the release date is decided, a time frame for completion of the official film site will be determined.

Our contact has promised to provide us with the details when they are available, so stay tuned!

EDIT: We just received news that Samantha Bloom IS in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE after all. She plays “the Rosings Governess” (Mrs. Jenkinson? Isn’t she full young? Of course I don’t think her age is ever given). Our contact adds that he doesn’t know whether or not she is the Samantha Bloom who is Orlando Bloom’s sister. So be of good cheer, O Googling Fangirls.

The Reduced Shakespeare Company’s show “All the Great Books (Abridged),” which includes references to Jane Austen (though we don’t know if it’s just a mention in passing or something more in-depth), is playing this weekend at the Napa Valley Opera House.

Works from Jane Austen to Mark Twain aren’t spared from the skewering, which takes the original works and compresses them into shorter passages, with wit, humor and punctuation thrown in.

Shows are tonight (Friday) and Saturday night at 8 p.m. and at 3 p.m. on Sunday. It sounds to us like something Jane herself would have heartily enjoyed. If you get to see it, send us your review!

In an article in the Brisbane Courier-Mail, Ben Harrison says that women don’t write funny books.

Humph.

Maybe, however, the way that women’s comedy writing is judged is flawed from the outset. Maybe too much time spent analysing the patterns of male comedy has resulted in us simply reading things the wrong way. It took scholars until this century to figure out that Jane Austen wasn’t being entirely serious when she wrote Emma.

So could it be that all that is needed is a pointer in the right direction? Maybe.

You might want to try Northanger Abbey, dude.