The Jewish Lawyer Who Knew Too Much and Lost His Head (Literally) in a Cambodian Hotel, “I Know A Guy in Sioux City…”, Free General Flynn! Parisian Style Icons, Newest Architectural DemiGod to Worship, The Greatest Film Scripts Never (yet) Made, Food to Die For You Can’t Have Right Now (Sorry!)



In Episode 8 it’s a week of lament.  Lamenting some of the fave and best restaurants in the world that are gone through the ravages of time and tide, or are now only tattered remnants of their past.

But with all loss comes the Universe balancing it with creation of new things to wonder at google-eyed; the amazeballs new architectural interiors whizzbang DemiGod icon (he’s not new…I just recently discovered him) Swedish import MARTIN BRUDNIZKI and his unforgettable creations.  From my fave new London restaurant BRASSERIE OF LIGHT (regrettably closed inside regrettably closed SELFRIDGES at the moment until WuFlu blows away) to ANNABELLE’s to scores of other groovy hotel installations and objets d’art.   There is so much beauty and emotion jam-packed into his creations but they have a transcendental appeal that while radical in some ways the simplicity and blending manages to appeal to a wide audience.  You feel an extraordinary vibe when you walk into any place where he has waved his magic wand…

Meanwhile…Hey?  Do you need a guy?  Everyone in a small town or neighbourhood knows a guy.  Car problems?  I know a guy…  and so on… A guy who can (fill in the blank).  I name ‘dose guys from Sioux City that I used to know.

Was University of Colorado (Boulder) in the early 1970’s the coolest place ever?  Of course… I went there and I was the most uncool chubby thick-glassed, big nose white Jew boy from a hick town ever to attend.  But relive those days and a great Facebook site about them which is ‘Members Only’.  It was Playboy Magazine’s then #1 Party School in the USA.  ‘Nuff said.

Two True Hollywood Tales on the brink of being made…or not!  Once upon a time a nondescript, insecure, hopelessly-average Jewish lawyer in Melbourne, Australia married into one of the wealthiest families in the country and was handed the keys to the kingdom. He married as well as Nicole Kidman when she snared Tom Cruise in a transactional way.  His name was Max Green.  On the eve of his son’s Bar Mitzvah he stole $40 million dollars from the wealthiest investors in town under pretext of a fake investment tied to a real project, plunged all the money into stolen sapphires from a suspicious mine run by an ex-CIA spook and a partner in Laos, managed and guarded by an ex-SAS soldier and his wife, and almost (read: Almost…) got away with it until he forget that he didn’t know what he didn’t know and his head was smashed to pieces in a posh hotel room at the Sofitel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia when it was decided he was the man who knew too much.  You need to get some quick free legal and accounting advice here because it’s stranger than fiction.

The other Hollywood film you have never seen and might never unless there’s a Dallas Buyers Club miracle is about a guy named Gelignite Jack Murray who drove the longest, toughest, car race on the planet: The legendary REDEX ’round Australia rally in the early 1950’s.  His car passing tactics were to throw dynamite (gelignite) at other cars.  At one point the $40m budget was thought to have been secured and ‘CON AIR’ , ‘LARA CROFT’ and ‘EXPENDABLES 2’ director Simon West was attached to direct. What happened to that movie?  The main investor was a multi-millionaire physician who owned a football team before he was sent to Federal Prison for allegedly hiring a convicted hitman to collect a debt.  It gets weirder…

Some people have problems with directions, or parking.  I have problems with zippers and shoelaces and this has plagued me for 60+ years. And no I’m not left-handed.  My wife is and we discussed that in an earlier episode.  And we reveal why the Big Lie of the Personal Development World was “Hugs Not Drugs”.  Whoever thought hugs were better than drugs obviously never did any Class A narcotics.  But don’t try this at home, kids, it’s just a memorable cautionary tale from someone who was ravenously hungry at the conclusion of the podcast.

Inspiring people, companies and things to investigate from this week where you can find the breathtaking beauty right in front of you if you look up when you walk down your own street.

@martinbrudnizki @m_b_d_s_  @AMIparis @Y3 @StoneIsland #Perinos @IGLuxTravel #InternationalTravelManagement #JohnClifford #PaulConroy #JamesMcdonaldPhotography @jamesMcdonald #Dust&Glory #SimonWest #GaryO’Toole #NatalieHeslop #NancyRizk #FotisKapetopoulos #AngusPyke @BrasserieOfLight #bobbywoodmode

Brasseries of Light Photography by James McDonald