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Home   Quinn + Tonik   Quinn + Tonik Vol. 21: The Right Stuff

Quinn + Tonik Vol. 21: The Right Stuff

Quinn + Tonik Vol. 21: The Right Stuff

It is always about digging deeper. Everything. To be the best at anything, you need talent. But more importantly, you need, "The Right Stuff." That elusive combination of smarts, persistence, and an ability to dial out distraction, fear, and emotion. Throughout time, commentary has existed which points to that elusive gumption that is required to achieve magnificent things.

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. 
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. 
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. 
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. 
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. 
The slogan Press On!"

— Calvin Coolidge

"I must not fear. 
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. 
Only I will remain." 

— Frank Herbert: "Dune"
  
  
As we inhabit an era perhaps on the verge of again1 taking humanity beyond the planet whose resources we have been treating with such disdain of late, it is maybe time again to think in terms of needing The Right Stuff. As Elon Musk has famously said as part of his epic quest to drag the planet into the 21st century and beyond, "You back up your hard drive.... Maybe we should back up life, too?."2 

So with cocktail in hand, let's delve into Tom Wolfe's magnum opus on the Mercury Space Program. The race that took the USA past the atmosphere, and into the stratosphere for the first time. And a time when men who had The Right Stuff were, "willing to sit up on top of an enormous Roman candle… and wait for someone to light the fuse." 
To ponder a life at the edge where you were as likely to go up in smoke as to enter the annals of history as a man who had made it to space and back...

And then to watch the movie of the same name, adapted by Philip Kaufman and William Goldman, where the "pudknockers" are separated from your, "prime pilots," and often those with the best experience and qualifications of all are excluded by the idiocy of decision by bureaucracy.

Ladies & Gentlemen, we give you, in more ways than one... "THE RIGHT STUFF."
  
  
The Mercury Seven were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton.
1 https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/new-space-policy-directive-calls-for-human-expansion-across-solar-system
2 https://www.gq.com/story/elon-musk-mars-spacex-tesla-interview
  

READ: THE RIGHT STUFF

 

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watch: the right stuff

 

Wolfe made no secret that he disliked the film, especially because of changes from his original book. William Goldman, involved in early drafts of the script, also disliked Kaufman's choice to elevate the perception of Chuck Yeager above the Mercury Program astronauts. But, artistic license and all, it's a cracker of a Sunday afternoon flick. And don't forget, "No bucks...no Buck Rogers."

 

WATCH NOW

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buy: the right stuff

 

Every role requires the right stuff. Whether it be a high altitude flight suit for "Infinity and Beyond," or something elegant and stylized for the boardroom, a dinner or a date. Whatever it is we are keen to discuss, consider, advise, and create. For some it's bonus season soon. For others it's time to consider your spring and summer wardrobe. And for a few of you it's also perhaps time to finally pull the trigger on your first DQ bespoke suit. Either way, we'd encourage you to ponder our Q+T and rise to the challenge in the attire of a Gentlemen Rogue.

 

MAKE AN APPOINTMENT

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and now, time for a cocktail...

Don the Beachcomber Test Pilot / Photo Credit: modexotic

 

1941 DON THE BEACHCOMBER TEST PILOT
FROM BEACHBUM BERRY’S REMIXED
-0.5 oz fresh lime juice
-0.5 oz Falernum
-1.5 oz dark Jamaican rum
-0.75 oz light Puerto Rican rum
-0.5 oz Cointreau
-dash Angostura Bitters
-6 drops (1/8 tsp) Pernod
-1 cup (8 oz) crushed ice
Put everything in a blender. Blend at high speed for 5 seconds. 
Pour unstrained into a double old-fashioned glass, adding more crushed ice to fill. 
Garnish with a cocktail cherry speared to a oyster fork.
For more jet fueled cocktails, have a read: Distiller Blog
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dq shirt club

 

We stand behind every product that we make but there is one that we are especially proud of. Though a man may not wear a suit every day, a shirt is a necessity. And if you're going to don a clothing item every day of your life, you may as well invest in the best.
Don't spend your time deciding on your daily companion. Sign up today and leave the guesswork to us.
  

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