S is for Stewart (Person)

I am something of a Jimmy Stewart fanatic.  I have seen many of his movies.  It's a Wonderful Life is my favorite film of all time.  Mr.  Smith goes to Washington is also in my top 10. He was in so many great films.  So when I decided to watch 12 movies  this year that I had never seen before it didn't surprise me that a Stewart film would make the list.  What did surprise me is that it would be a Stewart film I had never heard of before.

Magic Town (1947) is just that. I had a month free trial of  Amazon prime and was looking for a Jimmy Stewart film I had not seen before and when I found Greatest Show on Earth,  which I had heard of previously but never seen,  When I found it was not available I went with Magic Town.
I did a little researching and found that It's A wonderful life (1946 pictured above) and Magic Town  were back to back box office failures for Stewart.

The main difference between the two is that Magic Town is well deserving of it's failure.  It's A Frank Capra like film , which is  not surprising as it was written and directed by long time Capra collaborator Robert Riskin.  The end result of the reteaming of Riskin and Stewart without Capra is expressed quite well in an IMDB review by Mario Gauci ...

"... while the plot is typically original and engaging, somehow it lacks Capra's cinematic expertise in putting over Riskin's ideas: the tone is too often syrupy and sentimental while the  hero isn't made to face formidable villains such as one finds in Capra's work."

Stewart is not at his best in the movie.  His portrayal of a pollster trying to put a magic formula to work, lacks the multilayered nuanced performances he so often achieved. Jimmy Stewart was in many great movies prior to 1947. If you are looking for better Stewart movies from the 40's, you might want to try The Shop Around the Corner or Rope instead of this slightly above average comedy drama.

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R is for Ragamuffin (Thing)

R is for Ragamuffin

In 2014,  the movie ragamuffin about Rich Mullins came out.  I only have 39 minutes before my R is late for the A to Z challenge.  So I will let this clip stand on it's own.







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Technical Difficulties

R is for Ray

White Sox Homerun hitters from A.J. to Zeke

R is for Ray

Ray "RAY RAY" Durham

Ray Durham played for the White Sox from 1995 to 2002.  He hit 106 of his 192 MLB homers in a White Sox Uniform.  In a 162 game season he would average 16 long balls a season.  His best 2 seasons for the Sox homer wise were 2001 with 20 and 1998 with 19. 

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Q is for Quentin

White Sox Homerun hitters from A.J. to Zeke

Q is for Quentin

Carlos Quentin

Not only does Carlos Quentin  hold the White Sox record for most homers with a last name beginning with Q (107) he also holds the MLB Q HR record with 154.  Quentin who was released last week by the Atlanta Braves and is  now a free agent, has averaged so far 30 HR for every 162 games played.  He played 4 seasons on the south side from 2008 to 2001 His best 2 seasons with the Sox were in 2008 when he hit 36 and 2010 when he added 24. 

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Q is for Quinjet (thing)

Q is for Quinjet (Thing)

I know no thing can be as strange as giraffe poop.  But you are probably wondering what a quinjet iso and I'm just the guy to tell you,  Actually, I'll show you.



A quinjet is a  fictional jet with 5 turbo engines.  It exists in the Marvel Comicbook Universe and can also be seen in the Avengers movies and the t.v. show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It was first used in Avengers # 61 which came out in 1969.

In the Marvel Universe, the quinjet was originally designed by Wakanda Designs Group, has VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) and is capable of reaching Mach 2.1 or approximately 1,600 MPH.

The quinjets are primarily used for by the Avengers and are also used by SHIELD.  More often than not, quinjets are destroyed in action.



Cover ofAvengers # 61
book included  first appearance of a quinjet


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