Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

In FOF RECORDS news, BUTTONZ is back in town! I spent part of last night with her catching up on things, taking some pics of her and then videotaping BUTTONZ skateboarding through the halls of Ryerson University. I graduated there several centuries ago and it was funny as all hell to see her surfing down those halls I used to walk.....



BUTTONZ!


I really need some sleep so goodnight all!

[Maurice Ali]

Well it looks like I am going to get my first full nights sleep in a few days.....

Anyway, here are some screen captures of BUTTONZ skateboarding down one of Ryerson's underground passages (the bookstore is on the north side of the tunnel):



Buttonz in her new purple/pink hair and parachute pants with requiste scateboard and those Converse All-Stars!


Getting ready for her run!



First pass!



With the return!

Well I think Avril Lavigne has some competition.....

Off to bed now.....

[Maurice Ali]

I get home and find one of my hot water pipes has a leak and water on the floor. I will fix that tomorrow, but realize that on top of the stuff you see here; there is all sorts of stuff happening that I have to deal with. Yes, it is a juggling act and you have to make rational choices and prioritize. You have to hold your tongue when things don't go your way, then regroup and follow Plan "B" and remember there is always a Plan "B".....


BUTTONZ!

Anyway, I was stressed out and when I am stressed out I work on photos of our gang. So today is was a pic of Jessica two days ago. I like this peek-a-boo shot . When I fix the pipe it will be back to editing the TV shows.....

[Maurice Ali]

Some of us went the the Toronto International Auto Show and we will have a complete report in a few days. Personally I found the biggest surprise at the show to me the apperance of FIAT at the Chrysler area of the show:





I have not been to this thing in years but the events of last year have changed the playing field in the auto industry so we figured it was worth the trip for this year.....





I am totally beat up and tired so one again it is goodnight to all.....

[Maurice Ali]

Sorry for the delay in updates as I have on-going family health matters and just a lot of "STUFF" to deal with. I usually look younger than my years but the last two weeks have me run down and looking quite grey. I am also sore all over and hobble around when nobody is looking. Just stress and lack of sleep. But things are happening around here!

I can confirm that the offices at Yonge Dundas Square received our application and also found out that the insurance was very much in our budget, so if we get the date it is a go.

As a civil libertarian, I, Maurice Ali, once again submitted a Charter Application to test Section 10(b) of the Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms and as usual failed to make any headway even though I tried to keep the arguments away from the regulatory end and keep it at the fundamental level. Still no traction yet but we keep learning and testing. Someone has to do this for the populous and my name is "Maurice Ali, President of Fortress Of Freedom" so I am kind of expected to do this sort of thing when the opportunity presents itself. I was on my "soap box" tellling everyone that it is the moral duty of society's citizens to test and keep tesing our rights and freedoms, or we will lose them..... This stuff is a thankless job, but while I was leaving the courtroom (I had to wait two hours until everyone else had cleared out before the Crown would hear the more involved Charter Application), one of the Court Clerks carrying a bunch of files came passed me and whispered "Good Job!" and that made my day. That hit the right spot.

Expect to see some stories for the paper coming up in the next few days. However, I have to return to that editor, that TV series has to be resolved starting this year.

Goodnight.....

I will add one more thing. As I get older I realize that my time is finite and that physical things have less meaning. A scratched cellphone, dented car (though those still hurt) the list goes one, they don't matter in the end. Since I am not a family man the best I can hope for is for my philosophy and desire for freedom of expression to embed themselves in our youth. There are many young people at Fortress, and hopefully when I am gone my ideals will remain with them. That is one reason I am so patient with the kids, even if they behave badly. I start to see a phrase of mine or an opinion I know they got from me and I am more tolerant of the other stuff - see how that works..... Through the mass media maybe we can reach more. Children are like empty vessels and they may as well have my philosophy and thoughts as they have more merit then much of what is out there. In this way what we do here may be worth it. May be worth the long nights and money and disappointment. This is where it is at - ideas and philosophy..... If my professors and fellow students from back in the day could see me now.....

[Maurice Ali]

I have a little over a week to take care of a mountain of work here at the o'l FOF..... Sorry for the old man funk I have been in, just tired and harassed. But I do notice the slight lack of energy, I am getting old though it has just begun. It really spurs you on to do the things you want to as you know the clock is ticking. I just noticed it happening, I am very much the same dude I always was, but time is not on my side anymore. I always thought age had no advantages and in most ways it does not, but look at how much more effective I am at 50 than 25. Why could I not even approach some of the things back then that I am doing now. The evidence speaks for itself, experience has given me the ability to do things that were simply beyond myself back then even though I was in my prime and on top of my game. How about that?

So I will make my "things to do list" and start to check them off. I really want the series DVDs ready for show to broadcasters - minus Scott Williamson's intros and exits - by the end of the week. We will record those intros and exits and them move into the embedded narration as need be. We don't want finished shows, just cutting room copies to show what we have to work with. We will let the cable stations cut them down and spruce them up and put their name on it for the exposure, if they like what they see.

In other news , UNESCO will make a decision on our quest for membership in a few months. We really would like to become members, but we can not guarantee anything as it is their decision. All we can do is react to that decision. If we get membership it means that those international organizations dedicated to the free press actually are working and if that is the case we will work on our domestic growth and projects at IAIJ. If we are denied, we are given the reason to take our cause internationally and lobby UNESCO in Paris and even the U.N. in New York. Funny how people laughed at my goals to talk to member states at the U.N. about the free press and freedom of expression, and in actuality I am very close now. How on earth did that happen - I just put the goal out there and.....

[Maurice Ali]

Nothing reported because all I have been doing is editing the shows. Real progress has been made, boring but significant in our desire to get the series on the air. This continues into next week. I must say that we really do have a series to shop and that is heady stuff over here!

[Maurice Ali]

I will soon be coming upon 10 days of straight editing which is something of a record for me. The shows are ready for redistribution to members and staff and Scott who has been wonderfully patient through all this. Once we film Scott's intros and exits and some narration I will resolve as many of the legacy issues in format and audio and cut the final files to be used for presentation to the broadcasters. They will want to redo everything, that is a given, if they are interested and I predict two more years of FOF updates to the series before the project is finished.

This thing is finally going to be resolved, and at the best time,, as I hate doing this in the winter.

[Maurice Ali]

I am backing up the video onto video tape as that is still the only medium I trust - If any of you remember that hardrive fiasco around Christmas.....

What a marathon session of editing, but people commented on how upbeat I was at the time. I put on maybe five pounds and most of it came from coffee and fast food as this shot tells the tale, actually shot one evening beside my desk:





Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

After having talked to Kevin all I can tell anyone in the loop is that Shane and Kevin were part of the press interviews with "Slash" of Velvet Revolver and and personal meet and greet with the man. That is all I can tell you at this time. Shane's set tomorrow is still on:

http://fortressoffreedom.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2318

The two also have unrestricted access to all venues at Canadian Music Week, so expect a few reports from these two in the days ahead. I covered the event last year but will sit this one out and let some fresh eyes give their take on things. Good stuff guys!




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

It looks like Kevin was having way too much fun at Canadian Music Week. Lucky Dog scores this event as his first assignment with FOF RECORDS! He and Shane were part of the press scrum for a "closed to the public" interview with Slash of Velvet Revolver and formerly Guns N' Roses, and they got lucky and scored a 15 minute personal meet and greet with Slash. I have one interview ready to be uploaded from Kevin's camera but the really good stuff is on this other dodgy camera I will have to 'massage" to get the video and photos from. So figure about another hour and a half for the formal press interview clip and later today for the really good stuff unless a major corruption makes me take drastic measures.

Anyway, I know what I will be doing this weekend.....









First Interview with Slash:

http://fortressoffreedom.com/Slash_Interview.wmv

And Part 2:

http://fortressoffreedom.com/Slash_Interview_Part_2.wmv



Slash

Get to meet the man in person and you get signed freebies:


Signed poster


Signed Book


More to come.....

[Maurice Ali]

We are coming to the end of Canadian Music Week.. Our "Two Muscateers" Shane and Kevin got unlimited acces to all events and it paid off for us in MEGATONS! I am still processing photos for the two. First is another photo of Slash:




And here is Shane with Snow:




Here is one of Kevin and Shane with ANVIL:





So great stuff for Shane and Kevin. As for me, I am proud papa of my two guys who totally took the initiative and got to places where we previoulsy could only dream of going. Man, I think we beat Kim Mitchell and Q107 by two days with our video! Ha! Imagine that .....

[Maurice Ali]

I finally am catching up on some sleep, that is sleep from 4:00PM to about 10:00PM with a break to catch up on things and then sleep again into the morning. That is Amy Sky in the photo above. Amy is looking mighty fine for a gal the same age as me..... I will leave it at that - Ha!

The Music Week stuff was a gas with the crew out and about giving their take on things and scoring victories for themselves and the label here and there. I sat this one out. I recall seeing Kevin in a video talking about how great the convention was while the camera was pointed at the CIUT booth - which I am a paying client. See, I know some of the people there and do business there (last time was for the Donald Brasseur show - CTV/"A" Channel). Can we say that my objectivity would be in jeopardy, yes it would. That said, the musician's take on the event is more fun, no doubt about that. Yes we are putting out our little business model of how to get artists out there, and only time will tell if we read those tea leafs correctly.

What am I going to do, those musicians have a way of growing on you and here I am trying to help re-invent the industry and make it thrive again. But it only happens with a community effort and doing one thing at a time. So it is back to the TV series and burning DVDs and getting our group of, or should I say sample group, to look at the shows and give constructive input before we finish the shows and go shopping for a channel to host it.

And I just smile when people tell me how exciting this stuff is with the concert next year and the Canadian Music Week stuff. But I seem to recall meeting the FOF RECORDS crew on Friday and everyone totally exhausted and then myself running around Saturday trying to get photos and video out of a corrupted memory stick! Oh the memories - then sleeping for two hours after I got the files back and then an all-nighter making all the video into something coherent and putting everything up on our servers as soon as possible. Is that exciting?

Goodnight all.....

[Maurice Ali]

I am a one man sleeping machine. We really have moved up a significant notch and there is never enough time. You can rationalize things but your physical body needs to sleep to adjust the changes in your lifestyle that are happening too fast, that is where I am at right now. Technically there is enough time for sleep but I just sleep whenever I get the chance like five to seven thirty, that is just crazy..... Anyway we had a small pow wow tonight and everyone is definitely on board. It looks like I will have to make a trip to the United States so I am getting ready for that, I got my passport last year though so I can go at any time now. Things are really moving at a zillion miles an hour over here but everything should settle down for a while.

Ok, that is as much as I will say about all of this. That is your update for a while.


Goodnight.

[Maurice Ali]

Shane's performance tonight is canceled due to an emergency. Without getting into specifics (for those out there who know Kevin), our own Kevin Adgey ended up in the hospital today and is currently receiving care as I type this. From all of us at this organization, we all wish Kevin a speedy recovery. Stuff like this always weighs on me a bit. All of us here are on a bit of an adventure, out of the usual routine, you can see my experience in the posts above. Adventures are dangerous, that is why they are called adventures. I try to stick with the same routine to keep the stress down as much as possible. Everyone is different and some handle it better than others. We are not talking about Kevin here, just the stress of opening up one's future. Sometimes having a boring predictable life is healthier than having a more adventurous or exciting life, everything has it's price. No; this stuff you read here is no internet fantasy, it is real.....

Got to run now.....


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Some more.....


I should also tell you that today marks the first time I started working in 3D - Just flying through titles and stuff like that. Nothing like Avatar which I have yet to see but wow! Who would have ever thought..... And actually I was going to delete that bit about the 3D stuff as it seemed to trivialize Kevin's predicament. Hopefully this stay in the hospital will be a short one. What we really need around here is a brief "time out" as you can only push things so far. I will look at the trees and and soak in some rays and contemplate life, that should last about 15 minutes. I will probably take it a bit easy and e-mail people and take a few phone calls and finish burning DVDs the never ending process of burning DVDs..... How the hell did I get involved in all this anyway? Enquiring minds want to know.....hehehehehehe.....