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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 8:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Things are getting busy around here!



Twenty6Hundred's last CD with FOF a few years ago!


It looks like more new music soon from Twenty6Hundred and their latest 9 song album titled: Until the End. The association is humming along as usual this time of year. I continue to review the shows and update the paperwork. I don’t even have time to sit back and expand on things or write for fun. Even now I have to get back to work so.....



Goodnight.....





BTW: When it comes to music don’t prejudge. For example I became a fan of the US Navy Band. I still think their version of the Shakira/Estefan song Eyes Like Yours is the best version. Some big names like Artie Shaw came from there in its past and they aren’t afraid to get down! Happy Halloween!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvDt_KbYzm8&feature=share

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuddiKKzlV8&feature=share.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY3XxnRtu48&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Nov 01, 2017 11:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A late one but we are making progress.....




The Free Press show CRTC certification for broadcast!



I am on the seventh show with six ready to go as is. There was a terror attack in the States so cold calling this week was definitely out. When you’re a brown guy you don’t cold call when the news is all about some terror attack, as too many bad associations are out there and in you walk through the door..... So the earliest is next week but I now have all the parts of the pamphlet and submission agreement and cover letter and those all important DVDs should be good to go. I saw some of our SD material up-sized to 16X9 and maybe in the future (if we get friction with the current formatting) we will just up-size everything to 16X9 and just submit that way, but not for now. It looked better than I thought it would! Anyway, I am making a change in the line up. I am moving the Free Press show up to episode number 4 as there is too much music on the front end and moving that show in the middle balances it out a bit. So the current line-up is as such:



1 The Fortress Experiment
2 The Making of AAVRY KNAPP Daze in My Life
3 Real Life
4 The Free Press
5 The Life and Times of Donald “Boots” Brasseur
6 Free With Purchase
7 FOFSTOCK
8 Epilogue



So the pamphlet gets updated again with the new line-up and the labels get renumbered. I am slowly running out of reasons to avoid not knocking on doors. This is a good thing. I keep exercising a bit more. I could just squirrel away and review faster but balance is the way to go. You don’t want to knock on doors mentally rung-out from getting the presentations ready. But at the end of the day you have to knock on those doors. Everyone hates that part. When I handed Shane the updated DVDs he made sure I knew the first meetings were on me and I understand why. I can take it but the others would have problems when the broadcasters do the hatchet job on the series.


So that is where it stands right now. I know it may sound tedious to follow this thing in real time slow motion but that is how this is done. At least year by year you do see progress with us. There is definitely that. But it is what it is. Much more hassle than you think. Anyone who is jealous with my life should give their head a shake. Different – sure – but better; well that is all subjective. When I tell you my life is shit it is from this end. I have no reason to deceive you. You get more deception from those telling you their lives are better – and probably not. Does that reality break the dream, well maybe; then again it was a dream and not reality.....



Have a good one.....




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT7X6IOKL9s&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 8:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I should have only one DVD left to work on later today.


One definitely has an audio issue so this thing will probably drag onto Friday. But this thing is definitely wrapping up. I will label and use the originals for the presentation kit and make copes for further use. I have already scoped out the broadcaster in question. All I have to do is get the gumption to walk through the door that day and see what happens. You may think this is just me being a whiney little pussy, but in I go to these people with the hopes and dreams of 50 artists of all kinds on my back – that is why folks – no pressure, no pressure..... I will delay the pitch to the US broadcaster until first response from the Canadian broadcaster in case something truly bad happens or some mistake made. This gives us the option of a rethink or change in the presentation; otherwise we just screwed ourselves out of two broadcasters. Anyway, that is the plan.





(Noel James Photo)




Over at IAIJ we had one of our journalists covering the Richard Spencer speaking engagement at the University of Florida which was well publicized and protested with the authorities taking precautions post Charlottesville. The article "The Art of Fake News: The Richard Spencer University of Florida Incident" can be found here:


http://iaij.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=944


The weather is definitely pro snow as in cloudy and rainy all the time. This is Kryptonite for the sport scar vibe but I may take a break later this morning and have mocha and look at some cars just for the hell of it. I just want the TV stuff to have resolution - that probably won’t happen. But I can dream can’t I?




Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwIymq0iTsw&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 3:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Working on the last DVD and that is that!



Copyrights and Mechanical Licenses!


Multi-tasking as always. Almost 4:00 in the morning and back to the music and the record label. Why keep a record label going in 2017? Because music is the best vehicle for reaching that mass audience with a message. Pick any genre and imbue your message into the lyrics and you almost plant your philosophy subliminally in the hearts and minds of the listeners. And - the better the song – the more they play it over and over again which just makes the message stick in the mind..... Any genre, it does not matter. So the old fashioned record label still works for us! Unlike most my age, I actually listen to new music. I only really mentioned Lindsey Webster in Jazz last year because it was safe, DJ Snake & Lil Jon from back in 2014. In 2017 for example I am currently listening as I type this to Arch Enemy’s “The World is Yours”. I loop that song into my play list as I was always a fan of Alissa White-Glutz. Love seeing a Canadian and former Canadian Idol contestant get into the industry and gradually find her genre, her sound, and her voice; she has really come into her own. I tried the same thing, trying to find young talent and develop it with Jessica “Buttonz” King. I met her when she was a practicing witch and literally living the rave lifestyle as in 3:00am eternal sort of thing. She told me she also entered into Canadian Idol but got kicked out before TV production. Anyway, I play the numbers and this one did not go where I wanted it to. She is still very much with us and is currently helping with the TV production and sales, ripping my heart out as she critiques the shows.....



Buttonz!


Man, if you only knew all the women who sang their hearts out at my place in the early days! As I bitch about not having any women, I always catch myself every now and then and realize some guy may just walk up to me and punch me in the face and just walk away..... But whatever, I am thick that way – I will never understand women....Hehehehehehe.... But the label is real, the opportunities are real and we are one of the last corporate independent record labels in Canada still doing things. With the experiment over I can broaden my horizons and get some interesting talent on-board, we just keep at it. Currently Jessica was originally targeted at the Death Metal crowd and Tabitha came from Gospel – total polar opposites! When we did FOFSTOCK I wanted Lee Aaron (Metal Queen) and then the Thrash Metal band Annihilator (e.g. “The Trend”) from Ontario, I hooked into their sound from a review about Hellfest over in Europe. But the kids had their way and we went Rap, but old school with Jelleestone.



Tabitha!




When it comes to music; just keep your mind open, give the music a chance. I guarantee that if you listen to Arch Enemy’s “The World is Yours” at least 10 times in a row you will start to get hooked, and then it’s welcome to Death Metal! Just keep your mind open to new music. I just wish the girls didn’t deliberately have to look like they came out of a sexist video game, but the imagery is good and very today. I’m a guy so that always works for me, but too much of a good thing works against you in the long run – just say ‘in.... Whatever, I have to get some sleep.



Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk2-bgwA0Ro&feature=share

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgIpAnVC24Q&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2017 8:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Now that the DVDs are done I just have to update and tidy up all the ancillary stuff. I may even have to tweak the desktop rotating promotional icon that goes with the kit. But whatever; we are almost done!


In a very short time we will outgrow the dependence on institutions and go it on our own collaborating with those very institutions we used to get established. This idea of FOF was dissemination of ideas. Put it in the music and put it for sale and watch people copy and torrent the hell out of it all the while passing it on like a virus to millions if not billions. So yes, the music industry in its present form works for us. I am not interested in money as an end in itself, just influence and the present state of things suits me fine. If you are creative it is very easy and inexpensive to influence minds on a grand scale as never before seen. If you understand where I am coming from – then – you can appreciate why I engineered Fortress the way I did. It all works to disseminate ideas with the ultimate goal of positive social engineering for all. That is the plan and incredibly we are still in the game. Nobody has put a bullet in my head yet – but to be honest – my open-minded and fair approach to international affairs seem to have left me in good stead with nation states of all forms. As long as you are fair and open-minded they will give you your due as there are bigger fish to fry for all of them. So we have a chance. That is the nations, but I can lobby some very influential names in the entertainment world to help with the cause. We are sort of getting there if not already. Creative people will cotton on to an interesting idea with good intentions and lend their name and talents to the cause which only legitimizes and disseminates whatever you are pushing.


So things get interesting but I still have to kowtow to the broadcasters for airplay and that comes next. But things are getting interesting.....





Goodnight......
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Nov 05, 2017 11:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The promotion seems to be a real thing now......






Above is my real life desktop back in the day around 2010. Looking at FOFSTOCK locations with this one being Mel Lastman Square. That was the dream then, and the reality was Canada's "Times Square" as in "Yonge-Dundas Square" (the most heavily trafficked intersection in all of Canada) on the civic holiday in August (one of the very few). Never expected that and in the end we just hit that concert out of the park! So it is possible to exceed your expectations.....




Sam and me at Yonge-Dundas Square in December 2010 when I signed the contract!



Basically I will copy and then label the original DVDs and keep the copies for future DVDs. I already have my second Canadian broadcaster all lined up. With the DVDs out of the way it gets easier to just finish off the printed material with the “insert broadcaster name here” and just keep at it. I still want to get negative feedback on these first broadcasters and make changes. If the old SD format on the HD palate bugs them then I up-rez the SD footage on future DVDs so they can just concentrate on the story before they bother about the resolutions. They may want some shows melded into one another and so on. This will take a while and there are other things to do. So assume nothing will happen and get pleasantly surprised when there is interest. That never works but whatever.....Hehehehehehe.....


Just keep plugging ahead. It bothers me – more and more – how much I wish I had some years back. Like 20 years or so. It’s a rub that bothers you because you tried that in your twenties and failed. Now years later you can do it and make it happen but the interested people are still in their 20s, so there is that youthful excitement, and vibe – but you are now the “old man” and you are just the facilitator, and not the end user for that brave new world of theirs. You just think about it and it bugs you. You can rationalize that if you got those years back, all those young women would seriously consider you for a mate, let’s say, and sure enough one of them gets pregnant and the baby thing puts you out of the cause and maybe the cause collapses if nobody is there to keep it going. It’s the same deal as before! You get this young women and eventually get a kid or two and the cause ends. Going back in time just reinvents the same situations and futures and ultimately the same choices and fates. It had to go down like this – I suppose.....


That is the cruellest cut of all. That you selflessly give of yourself to an end you cannot really enjoy. And that most that will prosper under you and your work, still get to have that mate and kids and family you could not get. As always, be careful of what you wish for. Maybe that attractive girl you wanted in your past, in actuality is a lousy lay with no sense of humour. And there you are trapped in a relationship you despise but endure because you love your kids; kids that in the end amount to nothing much. And you gave up on your talent and dreams for that.....


But my cards have been played and there is no turning back at this point; no starting over. I am still rather well preserved for my age but soon I will hit the wall and crumble down like everyone in the past – everyone. Nobody dodges the aging bullet unless they die young, and that is no prize either. So you just keep at it. Expect much bad luck with the shows but you still keep at it. This applies to everything at the orgs but you just keep at it because there is nothing else now. Your life is officially played out and there is only the outcomes of those “Hail Mary” plays to witness. Of course anything can happen but even the best result will just be a flash and then it's over for you. Any permanent results will be of value to the youth.



You can’t have it all.....




Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeExa2R2nf0&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 9:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So we are almost done. DVDs are done. The pamphlet is updated mostly and proof reading it now. The Pamphlet covers are basically done. I still have to create updated cover letters but that is no biggie.


Basically I have run out of reasons to not just drive down there and hand the stuff in. I went to Staples and bought some small standing displays. I have one small rotating display from the TVO presentation but needed at least one more because we are ramping up the promotion and if they have them in stock I am buying! So we are literally talking days here if I really want to rush it. There was a mass shooting in the States but it does not affect me so all is good to go here.





I was going to use the stand up poster display from the side-event at the UN but I think I will keep it as is just as a remembrance of my first side event at the United Nations where I actually got to disseminate my own ideas! So another trip to Staples to buy another larger display. So things have progressed and I love the updated descriptions of the TV series. We have to get some interest. Seriously, how many shows or documentaries are like ours? But don’t get ahead of yourself. Just work on finishing the promotional material. Look it over for a few days. And a knocking on doors will be happening.


Don’t count on anything happening soon. Actually don’t count on anything. But it has to be said that anything can happen!



Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 10:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I actually did this long winded and funny post late last night – but I thought better of it – thankfully.....


I’ll just give you another more boring update. Really, the only things that needs doing update wise are the pamphlet, and the cover letter. The stock submission agreement was done yesterday. For Tuesday I will go to the printers and have them run off one 8.5X11 page and slap that in the stand up display I got at Staples yesterday. I will also resize and make a foldable insert for the rotating display novelty item I pack with the promotional material. And I should slap those labels on the DVDs. I used to just write the episodes on them by hand, but that looks tacky. For now I will haul out the old typewriter and punch out the episode labels that way. I will probably keep the music/books/newspapers off the promo material this time and keep it as simple as possible. If they are serious and interested, then we will give them a sample. So that is the plan. One quick run through the cover letter and start of the pamphlet and then work on the poster files and off to the printers we go. I also have personal life things I have to do so there is always that. Everyone is really negative on the shows. Maybe not “negative” but not enthusiastic. The shows have come a long way but I think people are setting themselves up for the real possibility their lives maybe on the real TV screen – even as a remote possibility – and wonder how they will be received..... Then there is the criticisms about show quality, but that gets worked on some more regardless.


At the end of the day this is all on me. Always on me. I would have liked to say that the whole FOF idea was a collaboration of a committee of philosophers but that would be the biggest lie out there. It is just one man’s vision or dream; that is all. And it is quickly playing itself out. The show is just another culmination of things. All that bother and all those years and we did get a series, but it is not contrived like the fictional material on TV so it never can stack up against those genres. Even reality TV is contrived with just the reactions being real. We are all real, but so “rare” we will be judged against the others as equals. That makes the length of time rather irrelevant; it makes the mixture of SD/HD more of a bother and distraction. The people are ordinary looking and not really prone to the bombastic stuff you see on regular TV. But it is what it is and I have to sell it. The experiment was in the end an experiment and not a product to make money. And it is at these moments you can see the downside of irrelevance in it all. What if this moment – right now with all the possibilities still open - is as good as it gets? What if the TV stuff goes nowhere and what if the UN advocacy just fizzles out? What if I was just a flash in the pan curiosity for people to take in.? Was there really ever that brass ring to make a grab for.....? Can you blame me for dragging my heals, for delaying as I have. Can you blame me for not wanting this moment of hope and an open future to last forever?


But the plays are playing out. There is no big plan “B” in my life. It is what it is. So right now I just have to get ready as best I can and knock on doors. Just complete the mission! We are going back to the UN early next year and the music and The Fortress and all of that keeps going. I keep getting older and the world keeps spinning no matter what happens to me. Can you really will yourself out of irrelevance? I guess we are just going to find out in my case and it all ends up here in this little website of an afterthought at the end of a rather interesting experiment.




Goodnight.....


Oh, what the hell: Here is that bleary-eyed rant from 4:00am:


Quote:
I got much done on Monday but I should still have my elevator and short office pitch ready just in case.....


I was just looking up that John Gault character of Ayn Rand in "Atlas Shrugged". It’s complicated but has to do with the push to finance that “B” movie of the same name which I bought in bulk as HMV closed their doors and the far right in the States that praised it. Anyways this guy Gault is a philosopher and gear head and ultimately devolves his philosophy into a rather petty political diatribe of sorts. I never realized this before of a parallel to my rambling five minute speech on our Fortress TV Show. This fictional Gault takes to the airways by force to deliver his spiel on things sort of like in the movie V for Vendetta. In the real world you have to buy the airtime like I did – Less hassle that way although it took six months and some in-fighting at Global TV. But I did get my way and nation-wide and terrestrial and satellite.

Who is John Gault? Well he is not me.....

But it is funny how that character parallels some aspects of what I am trying to do. But if you buy into Rand’s time frame you end up like Margaret Thatcher believing that there is no society. There is society and my moral imperative is based in part on that assumption. We live in different times and the average intelligence of a human being has risen to the point that we don’t need representation on their behalf by those more educated to do their bidding. It is now technologically possible to have everyone vote and have a say in global affairs. John Gault was also this romantic sort in the novel, so what of it. I am a man and if a woman spreads her legs I’ll probably slip it in like any other guy – so what of it? When we take philosophic ideals and politicize them for petty end runs, when we take coins for a cause and lower the cause by humanizing the icon – even in something like romance – we lower the cause. It is not about individuals per say, Replace those characters in the movie with ugly people and is the story as much fun or as compelling to watch? Remove the wealthy and flashy sets and keep it grungy and real and is the cause more in the spotlight or less? I try to side step politics by going to those venues where I can talk to all different political systems en masse and pitch the ideas that way. That gets around a lot of pettiness right there.

I don’t even know why I am prattling about this stuff tonight. Look, John Gault and Howard Roark are fictional characters. What if those guys suffered from micro-penis or were gay or women trapped in a man’s body or whatever. Reality is not a book of fiction. Is Howard Roark of Ayn Rand’s The "Fountain Head" as dynamic or attractive as a sixty year old grey haired guy? I laugh at some of the extreme (and attractive BTW) right wing women in the States that pull out the John Gault icon – but what would they say if he turned out to be this brown guy with a Muslim name – too funny in so many ways! I rather patterned my image after twentyish century philosophers complete with wire rimmed glasses as I am from the 20th Century. But if we get to our goals I will definitely be an old man. Thankfully I seem pretty healthy so I should go the distance in victory or defeat. But the reality of this play, from my angle – is far different from the fantasy. If I met Rand today as she was in the mid 20th century would we hit it off? Well she was into younger more artsy guys from what I’ve seen but at similar ages if I ran into her; I wouldn’t have any problems hanging out with her and having a truly rousing fuck for the cause. That would have been a more notable romance than the ones in the novels. The novels paint the protagonist as a creature of circumstance where their better qualities are brought out. My way of just bringing it out forthright is not as dramatic but far more plausible then some strike by the rich and powerful or dynamiting a construction site and having a trial. Meet at some conference somewhere, have supper together and get drunk at some seedy bar and have at it in some tawdry hotel room waking up to each other all old and raw, warts and all as they say. Then maybe you get comfortable and possibly become a power couple – even if only in secret. That is more realistic than the window dressing in the novels or movie (Heck, the way they displayed Gault's "gulch" in the movie - I expected to see a Starbucks in there somewhere).

It has to be the cause first and foremost. The people are just animated bags of shit that regularly fail the ideologies for petty earthy reasons. And in the end they grow old and die on you. That does not make for a Pulitzer Prize or an Academy Award! But that is the reality those who try to influence on a massive scale have to deal with. Preparing for succession if I can’t get it done in my active lifespan – that does not work for the movies. I actually wish it would work out like a novel or movie. Actually I have to catch myself and realize we do have a series of TV reality shows... Hehehehehe.....


Maybe I’m not better than any of the others. Wait till you hear the reviews from the broadcasters..... Hehehehehe..... For example, I honestly did not see the TV parallel till I punched it out. That is how thick I can be sometimes.....


Or maybe I’m just tired. But it would be fun to videotape me and Rand arguing about individualism or something like that and doing something tacky like getting drunk or smoking pot and doing the nasty with Rand’s legs up in the air grunting and moaning –real reality – It just would not play to the cause like it does in the movies or the novels. Perhaps this whole rant is just me fussing because the fictional version of people like me are not the reality I have to deal with. Years of your life to make it to one goal, that does not a movie make. Look at all the time and prattle just trying to get our shows on the air. That side event as another example. The General Assembly speech was a bit dramatic though, I’ll give the Fates that much. But reality just sucks for the most part.....







Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZN16SUWjeg&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 1:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Too, too, many things going on all at once.....


First of all is that the artwork and display items are done. Right now if a broadcaster said I want you pitch tomorrow at 9:00am I actually could do it. Of course I want to check things out some more and maybe tweak a few things but we have finally arrived! I get depressed more about our chances but you just go and do it. One thing I may do is up-rez all the SD stuff and just have that version ready if the combination of resolutions really bothers them. If the version is good enough we may just shop it like that – we shall see.....


BTW: I love the Ayn Rand stuff and philosophy, make no mistake. I love the affirmation of the sovereignty of the individual and their right to be all they can be! Just remember she is from a different time and place than today. That is all.....


Today was off to an early start as the boyos found out there was a 2018 Mustang in the inventory at this Ford dealership just four miles from my house. So I was tagged to go and check it out. I stopped off at the Starbucks nearby and got my mocha with whipped cream on top and headed over. It was not in the showroom but in the back lot and so I gave it a real look over and took some photos for the guys and gals that are into Mustangs. Overall is was less of a change than we were lead to believe which is a relief to me as my new car does not look all that old next to the newer ones. My car does not even exist anymore as the V6 is gone so this is especially nice to see for me personally. For the circumstances I was in at the time, I am still very happy I got this car. And not one single problem in the past 4 months – knock on wood.....


Anyway here is a copy of my report to the gear heads into Mustangs in Canada:




Quote:
2018 Mustangs Arrive in Canada!



I started a separate thread for us Canadian guys as the original thread for Canada seems to have disappeared; but it has to be said this is a Mustang enthusiast forum and there was much interest in when we would get the 2018 Mustangs in Canada. There are also sometimes changes in the cars for different markets like how all the V6 Mustangs got fog lamps standard unlike the ones in the States. The window stickers and charges are different in Canada, so there is interest in this. So there is a reason for a unique thread. Anyway...



Well in short they have arrived. Or should I say it has arrived. One single Ecoboost Premium Mustang in Toronto at Yonge Steeles Ford just north of Steeles and Yonge in Toronto. The car presently is at the second back entrance on the south side right up against the sliding gate and is black. I took a really good look at it as I sipped my morning Starbuck mocha and will post the window sticker and other photos as its daylight savings time and anyone that checks this out and works on a weekday will be seeing this thing in the dark.




First thing is why on earth is the car not on the showroom floor? There are at least two 2017 5.0s there but not the new 2018?





Next was the first impression, which was: Meh! Most people on the street would not see any real difference at all between the 2017 and 2018 models or at best attribute them to differences between the GT and Ecoboost rather than an across the board change. I focused my attention of the exterior changes as the interior changes seemed non-existent.




I checked out those headlights and that gap below is not a gap – it just is hollowed out and black – what up with that? The Darth Vader thing below the fog/turn signals is functional with a small port for venting into the wheel well that they made such a big deal about at the launch of the 2015s.












The tall lights are different and more angular in the zig zag motif they have, but the rear end looks pretty much the same. I also didn’t notice the drop or the droop as this is a black car. From an angle at the side I really could not tell they dropped the hood at all and that was most surprising to me. But the big disappointment was that hood. Two things. First is that curvy line that used to go straight back in the pre 2018s. Seriously, that line is not aesthetic and I took philosophy of aesthetics back in university. It should continue to flow straight back. Now that I think about it, the best angles the photographers grappled with to make the car look best seem to be the ones that mask that awkward hood line. The frosted ice covered photo here shows this up nicely.




Now the other bitch is those hood vents – or lack thereof. The pre 2018 vents looked better. These look after market. And I could not see any functional cut outs when I got in closer. I called a car jockey to let his young eyes see if there was actually any slits as I was lead to believe they were functional. He said he thinks there were two slits. Two little slits just to make “functional” legal? I wonder if the GTs have more venting? Anyway the hood vents were a disappointment and make me think they are there on all models to distract from the “swervy” hood line.




All in all it’s the same Mustang we all love. The design would not impact me one way or another in my decision to purchase it. It just is not that big a deal to me. But this little trip did answer some questions I wondered about after hearing the endless prattle about it for the past like nine months. Personally I think the plain tri-bar motif on the original 2015 is better and is a true iconic accent on the front and back as well as in the interior of those premium models. That zig zag motif looks like change for change sake which is probably what it is. Way less of a change than I expected. Your mileage may vary though.

Here is the location for this car:

Yonge Steels Ford Lincoln
7120 Yonge Street, Thornhill, On, L4J 1V8L




Later.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 11:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You want to know when you know you are really ready?


Well, early this morning I had the urge to just make a few small changes on the Epilogue show and just render another DVD; but every change just did not work or made it worse. So none of the changes stuck! It was at that moment I knew we were good to go and the shows were basically as good as they will ever get with our talent. That is when you know it is finished and get out there with it. You also see that things are spent with regard to everything specifically related to the experiment. The story arcs are all closed. Basically everyone gave all they had and there is no more to give.


It is done. Production is done! Just go out there and get your grief. I can live with what we did – which by the way – is something great! No matter what the broadcasters say, we showed the world something about human nature and we accomplished many things.


This is a strange situation. I go all the way back to the morning before taping the Fortress TV show. Just me prattling about my theories and that this was an experiment. Yes, it really was an experiment from the get go. And oddly now it is right back to just me by myself. The story is complete. So now what do I do with it? Well it all starts next week. I can’t see any reason to delay it anymore. Just tidy up the printed material and out it goes. I am even throttling back on the work and taking care of other matters now. I has reached that place now.







It is all just a mind game in my head right now. This part of the tale is all me and FOF/IAIJ now and time to get the word out. We have the broadcaster and all that already scoped out. This dragged out so long we will be doing this in cold weather but the work is done and we have arrived at the place you need to be to properly present the material. Strange, but there isn’t anything more to be done. Well maybe the website, but that has little to do with the physical presentation.




Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 9:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maurice Ali wrote:
Laura Tommasone Becomes IAIJ-FOF Group Office Administrator!




By Maurice Ali, President: FOF Inc., IAIJ Inc.(Ass), IAIJ Inc. (Arch), FOF Records Inc., More Vision Inc., FOF Entertainment Inc.





Laura Tommasone



I am pleased to announce that Laura Tommasone has been offered and has accepted the position of Office Administrator as of this date November 10, 2017. Her new position will span all companies and corporations in the IAIJ-FOF Group which include:


Fortress of Freedom Inc. (Media Production Company)
International Association of Independent Journalists Inc. (Not-For-Profit Journalist Association)
International Archiving of Independent Journalists Inc. (Journalist Archiving Service)
FOF Records Inc. (Music Production)
More Vision Inc. (Advertising Company)
FOF Entertainment Inc. (Media Distribution)
IAIJ-FOF Group (Umbrella Company for all corporations)


Laura has a resume that fits perfectly with the makeup of our small conglomerate of corporations. After graduating from college, she has worked as a real estate agent along with work in advertising and paralegal services. Her duties will include the usual duties ascribed to the position of Office Administrator but may also include assistance in media promotion and distribution.


So let us all wish Laura the best of success at her new position at our organization!



http://fortressoffreedom.com
http://iaij.org
http://fofrecords.com
http://morevision.ca
http://fofentertainment.com





FORTRESS OF FREEDOM: BRINGING THE MASS MEDIA TO THE MASSES!







Welcome aboard Laura! Laura is not a complete stranger at FOF but this position is needed right now and a great opportunity for her. She is also enthusiastic about helping out at presentation for series distribution and sale, so I don’t have to bear the burden of doing everything there. Fact is these meeting are hell on the egos of those directly involved in the series production. Laura being a relative outsider to the TV stuff can handle the abuse these people can dish out! Aside from that we look pretty much ready to go. I failed at improving the shows and now am getting superstitious. As I stated before; getting superstitious happens when there is nothing to do anymore that increases your odds of success, so the only realm left is superstition. For me it is cultivation of bad luck and Thursday gave it to me in mega-tons. Not huge bad luck, but minor harassment level bad luck. I lap up this kind of bad luck and hope the Gods of Probability will give me one good moment of good luck – as in the TV series being picked up! That is my superstition plan. In philosophy, I don’t have to understand superstition in order to manipulate it if it does exist. And if it does not then no harm done as everything else is done and ready.




An older version of the Series Bible!


Actually, I still have to print the pamphlet. Ideally I want all black covers but this requires “bleed” and I have to do that at some of the bigger printers and that means a delay. I could fade to white along the edges to get out there faster, but we shall see. The more probable outcome is to print the gradient on the weekend and have the black bleed version produced over the next week and whichever opportunity opens up first determines the version the broadcaster gets. Sounds like a plan.....


Also, it snowed last night and I tested the Mustang and the tires on snowy roads, so far so good and no need for snow tires – thank God!




Goodnight.....






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSCid-iOoe0&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 8:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Two things.....


First of all it is Remembrance Day today!



Don posing in his uniform with requisite cigarette as they all did back then!




A military service for out WW2 Hero! (Photo from: canadianheroes.com)





At the grave (Photo from: canadianheroes.com)



For me personally it means remembering our own Donald Brasseur who was a genuine WW2 D-Day veteran that landed on the beaches of Normandy and was injured in Falaise Gap. I used to watch “Combat” as a kid and to have Don recite his war experiences over the week we did taping was a journey into the real thing. The guy actually lived what I used to watch on TV! He is buried in a Hamilton military cemetery and got an Honour Guard Funeral. I am warmed by how he embraced our organization and cause. I remember sitting with him and a bench just outside his apartment telling him about our plans for the TV stuff and UNESCO and all that and he seemed sceptical about it all but loved the enthusiasm and in time he actually got to see real progress being made along those lines. Anyway that was Don, a genuine WW2 hero and world class harmonica musician!


http://donaldbrasseur.com





Uncle George!




Some of my family was in the States and served during WW2 under General Douglas Macarthur in the Philippines. Macarthur’s forces when he wanted to go back were not America’s “A-Team” but the upshot of this was that Black American soldiers actually got to have proper rank and choice combat roles as opposed to European Theatres during WW2. So “Uncle George” as my mother used to call him actually got sergeant’s stripes in WW2 as you can see from this photograph back in the day. So I personally have remembrances on Remembrance Day, hopefully you have too!




I other news.....



Time to finish up the presentation material and plan the first meet with our target broadcaster. Don’t be surprised if it ends before it begins. These things are like that, but we are virtually done and ready to get our ego crushing reality check. If Laura actually goes with me to some of these meetings she will get to see yours truly squirm and cower as these guys go to work belittling and denigrating the material. Even if they secretly love the stuff and want to run with it – they will belittle and denigrate it so as to get better terms for broadcast. You simply will not get heaps of praise in this process. And that is just the way it is in this industry.....




Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 6:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There is a whole pile of stuff that went on Saturday.....


First is getting a call from one of our members at IAIJ that was being held by police. I won’t get into details but it is distressing that the most calls from jail by journalists are in Canada – what is up with that? One of our members may still have a lawsuit pending as I type this. Now you see why I have so many landlines available, because you can’t really call long distance or Skype from jail. We have them all over the world and I pay dearly for them. But they are there when our members get into trouble. When I started this with the unique URL press ID card many laughed and mocked me about it. But the system works and that guy with the pending law suit actually had the police calling me up via his IAIJ press card. The system actually works. And so does the saying: He who laughs last, laughs best!







The TV series presentation stuff is done. I only have to update printed materials and we are good to go. Even the website will get the updated imagery. As you can see above we have included the FOFSTOCK photo and a photo of Dan so as to include all principle players. Well I am not in there, and for good reason, but all there is my doing so I am there anyway. I am also getting rid of the “Who do you know?” thing as that sounds a bit cheesy even though that is how the experiment worked. Instead of the dedicated “Page 2” I will simply redirect to our FOF second page so I don’t have to update everything! But we are essentially ready. I will give things a god look over today and then probably rush to the printers and have that first revised bible made. Then I hand out the old stuff to my gang and especially Laura so she can get familiar with what the broadcasters will be receiving. Then we pick our moment to go down there and bug them. This I will do alone as I just want to secure who really should get the material. And then leave and update the cover letter and send it in by courier. But if she contacts the person then and there, I have to be ready to present the thing then and there. So it all has to be ready to go. Anyway, that is the plan. Or they can just tell me they are not receiving any more submissions – there is always that so don’t get your hopes up too high.....




http://thefortressexperiment.com




And that is you sitrep for the weekend!




Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 9:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I spent Sunday looking over the series bible and then handing out some of the old bibles and copes of our cover letter and such to some of our gang. This does more for me as it cements the idea that this promotion of the series is happening – Now!



I should have a working copy of the series bible in my hands today. In fact I should have a working copy of the entire TV series package done today and ready to go. The only question is whether I pull the trigger and knock on the door now, or make better copies and do it later. I guess I will just do it by ear and see what happens. The thing here is to actually submit. Once that is done you have some breathing space and can catch up on other things. And keep making the material better and scouting out the next broadcaster. But you have to make contact and submit.....



So that is the plan. I am not getting any younger; if fact looking at some famous faces just ten years older than me frightens me into really starting to push things along as nobody lives forever. The clock is ticking and you can’t get any of it back!





Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 8:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote






Well I now have the specifics to submit for our first broadcaster “Vision TV.”They broadcast to 10 million people and are open to independent producers. This will just be one of many and we don’t’ mean anything to these people. Their umbrella organization Zoomer Media started by Moses Znaimer has broadcast FOF material before in the form of Donald Brasseur’s Christmas music at 9:00am on a weekday on AM 740 so they are good on their word of access. Don also appeared on Vision TV on Senior Stars!


http://donaldbrasseur.com/DonBrasseurAM740.wma




Donald "Boots" Brasseur on Senior Stars on Vision TV!


So they are first. Previously we had submitted to AMC, NBC, One Three Media (now United Artists/MGM) and all corresponded back to us with One Three Media actually having their developmental group look at our stuff. TVO was nine months and a sit down with its top producer but no go there. But we do get correspondence and they do look at the material. Vision TV says they get 500 submissions a year and the wait time is in the months. Now the vast majority of that are just proposals and our material is pre-shot and ready to go out of the box, so we do have a chance. This all works for me and I know the procedure. And so it now starts again.....



This has been nerve wracking for me. Even if they like it all, there are some major issues here. The biggest is me! I am the TV series biggest asset and its biggest liability. The liability is brown skin and Muslim name. This dogs me all my life up here in Canada. Kept me from dating as a kid and getting jobs and a career - developing as a person. It even affected my chances in education and this is no illusion. I even had teaching staff at a high school in Edmonton come up to me and tell me they were trying to stream me into trade school instead of university even though I want to go to university and had the grades. Being brown just sucks in Canada! But with regard to today – I will always get screwed in the subjective judgement. And all my racial issues from the past come back to haunt me now that I have to get back into this. I can tell I am under stress as I am a physical wreck, but that will change when I get back into routine and we start waiting for replies. I even have a pimple on my nose which is the surest sign of stress for me. So this whole TV thing is a loaded issue for me personally. But I have to submit. That is all there is to it. I have to submit.....



So now that I have the information, I just make minor changes to cover letter and such. I won’t dilly dally as I want to get on the horse again. So by the end of the week the package should be couriered off to Vision TV and then we move on to the next one. No, I am not just waiting for them. We start to carpet bomb the broadcasters. I will wait for their reactions before making one last stab in the States though. But it looks like The Fortress Experiment is probably going to be late night run cable TV fare just to fill time and help with CRTC regulations. Or as one guy I know said it was 4:00am in the morning material.....Hehehehehehehe..... I don’t care as I just want broadcast and people PVR nowadays.



I could have sent it in today but I have a backlog of stuff I put on hold and so I have to take care of that now! This TV promotion thing has to become just a normal part of my life, a scheduled amount of time to make another proposal for another broadcaster and send it off type of thing. I have to incorporate presenting proposals as part of my way of life.


Will we get on? I still get minor panic attacks thinking about this as I don’t want to let my gang down. And as our shows get better and chances become a real possibility I downplay the chances even more. So expect nothing, but be happy if we get some interest and airplay..... I can’t make them put on our shows, and it is the subjective evaluation thing again, and don’t get me started on that..... Seriously, if I could replace myself with some Brad Pit character our stuff would be the greatest thing since sliced bread – I could put money on that – Crap! Life just sucks in so many ways.....




Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IySr_z1Lu7Y&feature=share
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