Fortress Of Freedom Board

Maurice Ali · Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 10:44 am Post subject:

The Taxes Are Done!!!!!

Actually they were done and sent off yesterday. I had to add some money to corporations because they made a profit but all is done now..... I can sort of relax for a few hours and then get back to work on the newspaper.....

I am sort of on a vacation so I have a bit more time than usual and it always has me thinking what if I had done nothing but pay down the mortgage and salt the rest into the bank. Nice fantasy but there is that little bit about having some fun while you are still young. Nothing is free but the thoughts always crop up, like now. Always in between projects and never just after major victories.....

Never after major victories.....

Maurice Ali · Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 6:29 am Post subject:

I also took the liberty of upgrading my little office computer. Nothing new or anything like that. Just reshuffling the old lady and using one of our more powerful computers. Still a pain in the ass.....

Maurice Ali · Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 1:30 pm Post subject:

The computers are all set up, always a chore. We are getting the paper ready for print and then it is back to video with a vengence!

Maurice Ali · Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:37 pm Post subject:

I am back.....

Most of our gang are on a vacation of one sort or another. As for me, life has been throwing an assortment of bad luck at me from every direction. Not the isolated major bad luck I try to avoid, but the multiple "pain in the ass" bad luck I can deal with. So we should be heading into a period where we can concentrate on things again. I am spending this long weekend to finalize our next newspaper and have it ready for the printers. Then it is back to music videos and the series.

Still wondering if it was worth it..... I took myself out that whole having kids and multiplying "thing" to do this. That is rather rare for a healthy fertile guy and I do keep wondering about my decisions. But I am now in a rather unique position with access to that mass audience, so I am set to continue with our philosophic experiment. We are so far along that to turn back is not an option. Life is like that. There are only so many people who can do what I can do (and fate is funny where they found this guy when he got tapped on the shoulder.....hehehehehehe.....). I am the only one of our group of idealistic philosophers in any position to do something like this. You heard it before: "The job finds the man and not the other way around!"

I'll leave it at that.....

Some more.....

The hardest part of all this is the time spent on building the apparatus - in all it's forms - to deliver our message of access to the mass media. To do this I had to start a number of companies, now a conglomerate of corporations and private companies. Then I had to populate them and make it all work. At the beginning it was all new and fun but now a considerable amount of time is spent just keeping the thing going. However there is simply no other way.

How much have we progressed? Well our largest broadcast area was 40 Million and our largest actual audience was 675,000 people. Those are serious numbers but my actual goal is about 300 Million to half a Billion ultimately. That is on a network in the States or broadcast into the EU from London. Sounds fantastic, not really and those are broadcast populations not actual audiences. Sadly, when I look at others like me - more and more - I seem to be going into this more alone as the others go belly up or plateau. We are those idealists entrusted to oversee the transition into the digital age and ensure it (the mass media) remains open to all. This is ultimately a good thing for humanity. If I and other like-minded individuals can do that - then if would have been a life worth living.....

We are reaching the limits of what we can do without partners, that is the next step. It is really just business in a way. I remember the first time I sat down with the people at Global TV and they said that if I wanted to put whatever I wanted on TV that I should start my own TV network. They were joking, but how strange would it be to actually do this.....

And actually..... After six years.... I know how.....

Report (Eldon Engineering) and application for "The New FM! (with our Trademark stuff and someone's CD.....)"

Maurice Ali · Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 9:11 pm Post subject:

Here I am..... I didn't think I was AWOL since Wednesday but there it is. What have I been up to? Just resting up and proofing the paper. I am redoing the front page photo just to be sure we have the best file possible. It is always compromises at this level. Anyway it will be the largest at 16 pages. Proofing the paper is also proofing the on-line stories and it is amazing how much we let things slide when it gets busy. But I kind of like that, it does not intimidate newcomers. I really want to get this over with and get on to the video.

July was one tough month and it all started with that blasted G20 business. I suppose I will one day look back and say I was there to archive it all. But all the other crap that happend like limping for weeks and rushing all kinds of stuff like the taxes and finally the paper is just too much all at once. Anyway, the paper is almost finished and the leg is getting back to 100 percent. Funny how hardy this old guy can be, but he is getting "long in the tooth" for this front-line stuff. I have been taking it easy last few days. I am actually watching a movie right now. And we start back up with things tomorrow.....

Maurice Ali · Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 6:59 pm Post subject:

Right now we are fact-checking, so things took one week longer than expected. That is ok as most companies are on vacation right now. Another sign that we have grown a bit more from the fact we have indeed taken a "vacation" with other companies whether we wanted it or not.....

Maurice Ali · Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 4:59 pm Post subject:

We are finalizing the files for the paper and have the printer and all that in place. Still I am in this funk that I feel more should be going on. That is far from the truth as many things have been going on, just not in a sensational media way. Big was refinancing our business debt. Most companies go belly up within one year and the rest with in five. We were on that course but those home runs we had and a sucessful reorganization fo debt ahs given us an entry point in to the next level of organizaiton. All that is boring to most of you but big stuff here. The fact is I can't make stuff happen without money and money is the only reason we can do the things we did. Good intentions are not good enough.

Anyway that was back in May and June was the build up to the G20 and Sue coming over and us all archiving the G20. Then I got injured and that took me into July. Apart from hobbling around and worrying about that we had corporate taxes to do and then turned to our newspaper. That paper is almost finished and then we turn back to music videos and video production. Then it is the concert starting around October. That is where we are at. The future is still open. I have done much of the things we have done in the past and that is not the same rush as the first time we did it. The concert is the only thing that is truly exciting right now.....

Physically I am mostly recovered from the leg injury and starting to look quite trim..... I have taken the biggest mental break from everything here in seven years and that - in the end - is probably a good thing. I am even bothering people about our productions which was a pleasant surprise.....hehehehehe.....

Maurice Ali · Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2010 9:10 pm Post subject:

What a difference a few days can make. It was last week I was lamenting the apathy that had struck everyone and now everyone is back and more.....

The posse are mounting their horses and getting back to work. More news in a few days.....

The paper is finished proofing but we may wait one more day just to be sure.

Goodnight.....

Maurice Ali · Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2010 4:44 pm Post subject:

Shane met up with George Stroumboulopoulos and did a small piece on the man. Way to go Shane:

Maurice Ali · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 6:49 pm Post subject:

I am fully rested up and now concentrating on other things. One is microphones for the concert. For the men I have the SM58 and SM58BetaA. The problem is women. Jessica, for example, can go all the way up to a high "C" so the Sure59BetaA won't do. The best would be the Neumann KMS-105 but it is too expensive. Second choice for the girls would be the Sure Beta87A. These are condensor microphones, and not dynamic mirophones like the ones for the men. Anyway the condensors are better as they can be positioned farther from the face than the 58's where 1.5 inches is best, I suspect the girls like it farther so you can see their pretty little faces.....hehehehehe.....

So it looks like a Sure Beta87A and these are just backup mircrophones just in case.....

Maurice Ali · Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 1:52 am Post subject:

I'm slowly turning my attention way from IAIJ and the newspaper - due to get the papers from the printer shortly - back to the FOF brand ad it's music and video. We did much with MORE VISION with the advertising in June with 102.1 "The Edge." Actually much has happened this year it just seems to all move in slow motion. Today I slept most of the day, so the day was basically a bust. That happens every now and then. You also get into this funk about being 50 and starting to get old although I feel fine. All sorts of stuff, business and personal, have to be done. What is it like to have nothing to do on a weekend?

It is a funk when you realize that you have just a short span of years to have sentience, a conscience and the ability to move around in this space of ours. To do things and such and know that it will come to an end..... And that is it, no more. That is what happens as you get old. What comes next? What was the point of my life? Is there a point to any of it at all? Well I still have our mission and it is a worthy one if we keep our eye on the ball. Still I would not mind having some more time, or turning back the clock and doing this through a younger me.

Ah, probably delete this when I get up. Goodnight.....

Maurice Ali · Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 11:01 pm Post subject:

Well I didn't delete the previous post. That sort of rambling is all over the net about life..... What is important is that we have started editing shows again. I really want to finish off the AAVRY KNAPP documentary with use of layering one of the songs to show how that song was made. The Free Press documentary gets video clips of news stories we have interspersed with the more mundane milestones of the organization. And a new music video or two . That should take us to October where we find out what happens with the concert.

Maurice Ali · Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 5:48 am Post subject:

No paper yet and we are working on segments for the Free Press show. I am setting up a Pro Tools segment for the AAVRY KNAPP documentary.

Maurice Ali · Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2010 12:01 am Post subject:

Everyone was skeptical about Channel Zeros' purchase of CHCH TV from Canwest over a year ago but they seem to have brought it from the brink and are starting to make it profitable. Hell, this is the dream deal we always had here at FOF.

To top it off they are heavily into the regional news and events which was our aim too. The management was able to cut 90 percent of the losses that existed when they got it from Canwest - they have even brought back "Ed the Sock!" Channel Zero was headquartered by our post production facility on Front St. here in Toronto. Wow! Way to go Channel Zero!

Maurice Ali · Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 6:11 am Post subject:

check out our pitbull protest here:

http://fortressoffreedom.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2370

Also on Sunday I happened upon a small independent film being shot on Bay Street:

I talked with the guys on the small set and wish them well. Got to run now - more later today.....

Some more:

Contrast the small independent with the massive resources of a large media player like Paramount.

This is the CBS/Paramount pilot called U.S. Attorney. I hung out on the set last spring to see how they did things. The entire street (also the home of Channel Zero and our post production facility "Creative Post") was full of tractor trailers on two streets. There is just no comparison to a show that maybe has one million to produce compared to some film student running up his credit card. I even hung out at a major car commerical on Queen Street two weeks ago and once again tractor trailors lined the streets. Feast or famine!

In other news.....

The paper is ready to be picked up! We are also working on the Free Press documentary.....