Slow Food, Fast Movie

Another of those contrasty urban experiences that I love so much about living here. Last night, we attended Slow Food Portland's annual potluck, ate an amazing variety (and quantity) of delicious, imaginative, healthy, impeccably prepared food, and schmoozed with interesting, like-minded folks.

This afternoon, we went to a matinee of Casino Royale. The older Bond movies had a gadgety, glam-techno aspect that seemed way out there, futuristic and faintly ridiculous. Casino Royale relies on nothing that doesn't exist today -- cell phones, laptops, PDAs, GPS, microchip implants and, oh yeah, auto-defibrillators. Ho hum. Plus a few steak knives.

I loved it, okay? It works perfectly as a prequel, as long as you overlook the fact that it's set in modern times and not back in the early '60s, or whenever the Bond movie franchise got started. Plus: the title sequence rocked. If I were a true movie geek, I'd need to watch it again to see if it paralleled the plot. But I'm not, so I can just admire the graphics.