A Peter Cushing Nonsequitur

Because, of course, it's hilarious to think of Grand Moff Tarkin cycling around a little seaside English town buying vegetables.

Peter Cushing is on the mind, by the way, because I bought my first Hammer Films DVD today at Smith&Edwards in Ogden -- "The Curse of Frankenstein." Now, I'm not really into horror films, and Hammer films tend to be, well, Hammer films, so we'll see how long I last. But it'll give me my first chance to see Cushing and Christopher Lee together in a film, so what the heck.

I'm a little concerned that, in this scene, Dr. Frankenstein appears to be studying a jelly doughnut rather too intently. Then there's the classic "reveal" of the monster which, inexplicably, leads to the monster trying to strangle the mad doctor. I'll be curious to see what the rest of the film is like.

Smith&Edwards, by the way, is well worth the stop if you're ever driving along I-15 in Utah. It out-Cabelas Cabelas, combining the best of an inexpensive outfitter with the best of the best of the traditional war surplus store. We spent about an hour there today, and that wasn't nearly long enough. I could wander through that store all day, looking at the interesting bric-a-brac from $30 Navy trenchcoats to Gilligan hats to bags filled with 25 boxed of "imported" matches. It's a place that takes all the snooty urbanity of the greater Salt Lake area and says, "Pfui, who needs it all?"

Dad used to stop there all the time just to wander the aisles. In fact, as we pulled up into the parking lot there today, I realized that it was with Dad the last time I was at Smith&Edwards, and Dad has been dead now for ten years. I miss him especially in places like that because in his eyes I could see the same kind of wonder and excitement I saw in my kids' eyes as they explored the aisles and picked up the random stuff that makes the store so interesting. So maybe I'm helping pass on a Davidson tradition here. Too bad it too me so long.