Ford Focuses on the Future of Urban Transportation

There are great movies, and then there are movies you love. The two categories overlap, obviously. The Godfather is both. So is Jaws. But there are also great movies that you are “supposed” to like even though they bore the hell out of you. Or movies that you endure because they are the favorite of your wife or girlfriend.   

But another class of movie may be even more important to our everyday entertainment: the guilty pleasure movie. You know the type. You’re flipping channels—or scrolling through whatever has replaced channel surfing—and suddenly discover that The Rock started 45 minutes ago. It doesn’t matter. You know what happened during those 45 minutes. You know what happens next. You know half the dialog.

James Bond is a staple of pop culture. He is all over The Manual because of his impact on the style, spirits, and travel industries. That also means that there are suits he wears people emulate, there are cocktails he drinks people want to try, and there are destinations people want to experience. When I was in Monaco for the Formula 1 race, I was taken aback by how many people wanted to go to the “James Bond Casino,” where Brosnan’s Bond met Xenia Onatopp for the first time in Goldeneye.

Now, Bond is infiltrating the real estate market as the villa from the ending of Casino Royale is now somewhere you can live. When Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) returns home after the events of the film, he stands admiring the view of his (assumed) villa before getting a bullet in the knee. This is the moment when Craig’s Bond utters his famous line for the first time, “Bond, James Bond.” Now, the entire property on the Lake Como estate isn’t for sale, but you can buy an apartment with five rooms on the ground floor, with two bedrooms, a study, and two bathrooms spread across two levels. All you need is to contact Sotheby’s with a meager $1.5 million.

My Uncle Chip, a man of rakish notoriety and impeccable taste, was a fount of memorable advice. “If you can’t be bright, at least be polite.” Another gem, offered after a breakup: “Women are like buses. If you miss one, another comes along in fifteen minutes.” He once told me that to be an entrepreneur, a man needs “a nose for opportunities, rich friends, and huge balls.” I have followed that last bit of advice faithfully, with little discernible effect on my tax bracket. And Uncle Chip, it should be noted, was a fishing guide in St. Barth’s living off a trust fund. As a young man eager to forsake the corporate slog, I needed field-tested wisdom from an entrepreneur who had actually made it.

I sat down last week with Brett Berish, founder and CEO of Sovereign Brands, the company behind Bumbu, Luc Belaire, and The Deacon Scotch Whisky. If you’re a hip-hop fan, you’ve probably seen Brett’s handiwork. The bottle of Luc Belaire in Rick Ross’s “Champagne Moments” video. DJ Khaled flaunting Bumbu in “No Brainer.” Like Jacob & Co., Sovereign is a name deeply woven into hip-hop culture. Back in May, I’d visited Sovereign’s Manhattan office to interview Rick Ross, a longtime Luc Belaire brand ambassador. It was a rollicking conversation, and I ripped a shot of The Deacon with The Biggest Boss before parting ways. This time, I was there to meet the mastermind behind the bottles.