Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

Two big things happened, and then I celebrate.....


The first is my plan to petition the big boys in the entertainment world. One thing that came out of One Three Media and NBC was that they loved the idea, but hated the optics. So while I am firmly committed to airing the thing as documentaries, I will leave open the option for big screen movie or TV series based on the true life experience of The Fortress Experiment. There is no hidden agenda here and I’m just being transparent. So while we go at it with local cable stations begging for airplay of our own video creation, we will be petitioning the idea for the big boys to buy and shoot and air a high quality show based on the real life experience of our experiment. This show will be augmented with actual video and photos and everything else but done their way with their optics and the beautiful people. If you think of it, we are disseminating an idea and not the individuals, so if an outfit like CBS or even back to NBC loves the idea and the fact it will be based on the actual real life story – well then – what does it matter? Hell we can actually get the real music out there and everything! You could even have a sub-story of the series showing the fictionalized events in actuality. Comments from this blog of sorts could be uttered by the main character as overviews and personal thoughts and such. They could snap it all up and do their thing with some serious negotiations to keep the integrity of the series. I ran this by Scott last night as he is an actor who works in the industry. He basically laughed and sad I never give up and we may actually find a way to get this on the air. But what I was looking for was a strange look of: What? That did not happen so the idea is not too far off the wall, and I will be honest, it does have an ominous ring of possible reality to it. Such a series takes a fabulous story, and takes all the great parts of it while minimizing the negatives. The fact that it is real and they have the rights to it all is the biggest as nobody would believe this story or adventure unless it was based on fact. The second is that we can get rid of the negative stereotypes of yours truly and replace everyone with the beautiful people with 8K resolution and beautiful sets and on-location shots. I for one would not mind a Will Smith or Denzel Washington or even Wesley Snipes playing me if it ever got that large. But just some tall handsome character that plays the “ice man” and stays true to the cause, with a few minor romantic digressions just to keep things lively. And I would want a big opening to introduce me. Like the first shot of Clint Eastwood in "Dirty Harry"! Pops out from a closed door to a tight close-up with those shades on – to later walking around at the top of a sky scraper with panoramic views of the city – perfect! Or Wesley Snipe’s intro in the first Blade movie where an innocent man is lured into the vampire nightclub and then as the guy is about to be sacrificed everyone looks up; stops and utters “Is that him? It’s the day-walker!" And a slow pan up Blade’s costume and then move the shot behind the crowd as they part and you see the man for the first time - Simply Bad Ass! Anyway it is just another way of promoting and disseminating the idea to the rich and powerful in media. We still have options and a Plan A, Plan B and even a Plan C. Things are getting interesting folks!




Dirty Harry!



The other big thing is that I fixed the leak in my kitchen sink. This thing has gone on for years and got so bad I was washing dishes in the washing room sink that used to be beside the washing machine and dryer in the basement. Now I took the pipes apart and saw the problem and basically just tightened and coated all the pipes and threads with tape and cinched it all up and so far it works. I still should have put Teflon tape on some more threads so if it starts to leak again that should do it. But this was one big distraction that is now out of my mind and I could not be happier. I am so happy that when I return a few plumbing items back to Home Depot, I will use some of the money to break the abstinence from Starbucks and have mocha with the whipped cream on it. If you don’t celebrate life when things go your way – then you aren’t living life.....




Everything in the house works now - Including the kitchen sink!




Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJjn9Vt7k1Q&feature=share


(NSFW)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHBhKbF2xMA&feature=share

[Maurice Ali]

Well I gave the sink repair the torture test and all seems well.....


Funny how the little things in your life can make it a living hell and when corrected actually enhances the quality of your life. Take that stupid kitchen sink problem. One of the pipes leaked and the moron who had the house before me used all manner of silicon on a joint that did not fit. And we are not talking loose in fit but with large gaps where water would just gush out if you let the water level rise in the sink. Then the silicon broke down to the point where turning on the tap would have water gushing onto the cabinet floor. I put a plastic tray there just in case and was never disappointed. In the end I just let the dishes pile up there and take them into the basement to wash them all at once. To properly fix this problem I would have to hack saw most of the ABS pipes and start over – really a professional plumber’s job. But I found this special tape wrap and finally got one of the connectors free of its silicon and thought I would wrap the old iron pipe to the plastic piping. In the end it worked! I just did a torture test of filling the sink to the brim and releasing the stopper and looking for leaks. There was one, a single drop that formed at the top of the connector and it wasn’t even close to dripping down. Everything under the sink was completely dry! As this was the apocalypse scenario for leaks I decided to leave well enough alone. I did the other side and not even a drop! I should have tried both bowls full of water and then dumping at the same time but that would never happen so I’m not going to bother. It works now and the joint seems really secure.



A Squirrel


So as I prattle about world advocacy and putting a TV series on the air; fixing the sink is a big deal. That is the reality. I looked at yesterdays update and it was kind of a shock to go from new ideas of selling the TV series – to a leaky sink but there you are. I did get a scare though. The squirrels came back for a bit. All is quiet now so I am assuming – and that is a big assumption – that they have found a better place and were just over for a visit. But that problem dogged me for years and definitely affected the quality of my life. I tried everything to keep them out including metal sheeting along the entire perimeter of the roof and soffits. The creatures always find a way! But things are quite now. So hopefully that one is gone for the winter too!



Squirrels: Who needs them!


Next ordinary life bitch is that Freedom Mobile account for my cell phone. Since three o’clock last morning I lost data and got “PDP authentication failure” – so, what up with that? I got up later in the morning and still no data. This is simply unacceptable especially in one of their best zones! I can’t even post this update as the data on my Note 3 has not been set up properly (probably need to do it on the internet of course). In this day and age you need a reliable data connection! So I will dump this word document onto a jump drive and do a drive by my Dad’s house, which is drive to the front of his house, connect up to his wifi from my laptop and post it from there and go to the hardware store to buy an new sink stopper as one of the two won’t hold water (it’s one of those large stainless steel ones). But we have not even reached one week and three long disruptions! I checked my agreement and the dude only has me down to a single month. I guess he figured a prosperous looking old fart like me would be out before that – and he is probably right! But the cash saving are like 2/3s the price of what I used to pay. But these disruptions are maddening. At least the phone works so if there was an emergency I would get the call but this other stuff is almost to the point of cancellation. Another little thing in life that affects the quality of it. And this data problem is a big quality of life issue for me!


Lastly, I think we will go ahead with pushing The Fortress Experiment – also – as a “based on real life” treatment for the biggest broadcasters. It adds to the order of battle and gives us more options, especially if they waffle and then say no. It could pull victory out of the jaws of defeat. But it does enhance my ability to negotiate – no question about it. So things are still relatively upbeat. I just have to increase the resolution of all artwork because I noticed that with the pamphlet and posters. Not a big deal but if we have the resolution we may as well update those files for best visuals.....


BTW: Freedom Mobile just gave me back data about 9:00am – I guess they didn’t wasn’t to mess with their business accounts, these guys are something else. The thing about them is that Shaw who bought them is a big name in cable, so as the towers go up and the data connections improve – you will still have those legacy plans that they got you in with. So if you hang in there you could come out smiling. You people in the States know about this with people clinging desperately to their unlimited plans so I must get some sympathy out there. Technically they are one of the few if not the only that actually offers you technically unlimited data (they just throttle down); so there is a reason to put up with this crap and they know that helps with retention – but sometimes! At least I don’t have to do the drive by now. It’s a hassle to change plans so they get another kick at the can.....



Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ySshr_5z9Y&feature=share

[Maurice Ali]

I finally got the Note 3 with that international SIM card to work with data. And it’s 4G! So if Freedom Mobile craps out I go to this phone.

I haven’t empathized how much I save. The 197.00 dollar bill from Rogers was the last straw as Freedom is only 50 bucks with 10 gigs unlimited. That is a third of the cost at 150.00 difference. October would only be a 100 buck saving but this matters! Anyway with me buying two new suits I don’t expect debt levels to drop noticeably but reducing fixed costs always works in the long run.


The squirrels were running around about an hour ago so later I will look for access holes but I think they just push up the shingles and get between he roof and soffit. Those roofers are bastards for not sealing up roof completely. Too late now but if I re-roof the whole thing gets sealed shut!


Anyway the weekend is about updating graphics and selecting our next target before Christmas season kicks in. Selling the series two ways now has me stepping back and figuring out how to do it; with as is for the smaller outfits and a treatment proposal for the major players. I am a much happier camper now even though I don’t think my odds are any better. But it makes it easier to get my 10 presentations working the probabilities. But we shall see, and that website has to be prettied up. But things are going well. Christmas statements and such have to go out along with all of us signing Christmas cards alone with the royalty checks. Stuff like that. I pick up my two suits next Wednesday and that last one only had the pants hemmed and one arm shortened. I gush about how the suit fits like a glove and when it does I get pissed off because she is not taking in here and taking out there. But we shall see if she is getting lazy on me and I take it for more alterations elsewhere – or not – if the thing really does fit like a glove.


Yada, Yada, Yada – The beat goes on.....

[Maurice Ali]

Saturday was half a day sleeping in but again it was a big day.....


What happened Saturday was that I decided to also go and get airtime in India and China. It is getting the gumption to do this abroad that was the big deal. It is all in the head after all and this was the big deal for me. India was a no brainer from the start and would easily get me the 1 billion I was looking for. But China was more difficult and mostly off the table, but now I seem to have it in me to try. If by some bizarre turn of events we got on both it would give me a broadcast population of 2.6 billion which is like a third of the world’s population! That does not mean a third of the world is watching but a third of the world could. But for me it is important in that I feel like going all out and doing this.


It is all in the head after all. All in the head to do any of this. The world is yours if you really want it – but that is a loaded question. If you get the world what exactly are you going to do with it? Who made you “The Man” to do this? In my case as usual it was never being bested in university days that opened the door. I went looking for someone to rub my intellectual nose in the dirt and it didn’t happen. That sort of gives you the membership card to try and do this. If nobody is better than you, then you owe it to help out – along with others like you as there is a small army of these people some of whom I met already. They all have their own thing going and I have mine. But without the knowledge that you are as good at this as anyone out there, you would just have to defer the job to one that was better equipped mentally. So that was the prerequisites for even trying. The next step was the problem of if you tried to get this kind of influence – then what are you going to do with it. Getting into a position of real power in the world is one thing, but what do you have to offer the world if you get that influence? For me I have been preoccupied with this since I was a child. I know the direction humanity should take and what is best for it. You saw most of it at that UN side event. Do what comes naturally and makes us happy as in freest expression of mind and body. That and a global democratization of voting power on world issues of importance to all, and so on. At least I have a plan and is easily understood by all in the world - general and non-political and is one option for all. So I have my membership card, I have a plan; and the only thing left is how to pragmatically disseminate and enact it. That is what I have been doing the past two years, so far. I am at the stage where literally all I have to do is talk to representatives of member states at the UN to have this idea introduced and some plan of action voted upon sometime in the future. Just typing this out is a daunting feeling but it is relatively simple and within me at this time.


It is all in the head, you just have to break through the fear and trepidation and do it. All these victories so far are really mental victories of mental emancipation. The reality is that I have physically placed myself in a strategic position to make this kind of influence work in the world on an international level through the NGO and corporations. And we now have disseminated the ideas and have a media product that disseminates our ideas to the world at large. All I have to do now is get others to embrace it and help get it out to the world at large and help get it into a talking point in international circles and see if some action can happen from there. This would appear incredibly daunting, but we are mostly there – believe it or not. That is what is so cool about all of this. The fact that I can actually do this! This is not some fantasy but a reality that has a chance, maybe not the greatest of chances – but a chance; and as such I have to take it. I really have no choice. There is no starting over at this stage of my life. My options are played out and it is this or nothing. Which is good as to leave the whole crusade at this point would be the biggest desertion of a moral imperative duty you would ever imagine. All that is needed is to at least try, to continue trying, and that really is all that is needed. To keep trying is just having the confidence to do this, that mental mindset to do it because you truly believe in it. And it is this that happened today. The gradual mental enlightenment that you can make a difference and you deserve to be here to do it! From the balls out and pushed to the limit. To do that you have to truly believe, and that with my strategic position that can make it happen, dictates what I have to do next.




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

A big weekend for me – but probably not a big weekend for you.....


This weekend was all internal for me. Just mentally getting there to do things is huge. It was so huge that I spent some nickel on a decent dinner and a fine glass of red wine (even though I am being converted to white wine). Anyone who didn’t know what was going on inside my head would probably wonder why this dude is so happy and feeling so accomplished as nothing got done this weekend except updating a few cell phones and finally starting to archive our TV shows as uncompressed DNxHD files for broadcast. But it is all in your mind and I should have been at the UN talking – or trying to –to a member nations about my ideas for a positive mandate and how they jib with their advocacy there. But I didn’t because I was not mentally ready, not mentally there; and I chickened out and worked on the TV shows. I could have even done it without a grounds pass as I could have met them outside of the UN while they were there or they would have just invited me into their Embassy or Consulate or UN grounds as a guest (since normal 365 passes are suspended when all the Presidents and Prime Ministers are there in General Assembly). If I was mentally there it is so easy. Even with the TV stuff I was not truly prepared and now we have expanded our ambitions and territory. Just because of what happened in my mind this weekend. Anyway, I prattled about it enough yesterday so enough of this.....


My life is just work and the orgs. In between real life is sneaking in. Fixing the sink and some more home improvements have to be made to make my life liveable. Changing the car to a new one drains financial income but was expected and happily we finished the experiment before I had to splurge on the car. As you probably guessed, getting the sports car was the right decision even if it was the cheapest sports car I could get. Love that car and entry back into that realm even if I occupy its lowest rungs – Get what you truly want as you pay dearly for it. I have family responsibilities like any other person and they all conspire to rob you of time to do things. But the experiment is finished and you can cruise a bit as things keep progressing. But the biggest encroachment of real life is your age and how many years of action you have left and even the spectre of retirement. It’s all there and the clock just keeps ticking away. You get lonely and wish you had a woman beside you in bed to snuggle up to. Always running your life for greatest economy takes its toll on you.....



The Blackberry Passport


So like I said I just updated the phones and such and I think I am staying with Freedom Mobile as everything has been stable and I probably would not have noticed any difference in data performance now that we have not had a major outage for the balance of the week. Coverage still cuts off when you are in high security concrete buildings but I can deal with that. Freedom Mobile is now with us for the foreseeable future, and as a back up my Note 3 has data enabled just in case. It has been weeks since I opened the editor so I figured the shows are good enough to archive, I waffled as to whether to archive them with my crude titles and graphics but in the end it was too much of a hassle to migrate all the titles to the top few layers to do this so I just archived as complete shows. This is just for peace of mind. That ultimate “shit hit the fan” nightmare scenario where we can bring back all shows as is and start over from there is now a reality. This will take most of today and probably overnight. But that headache will be done. I’ll get Sam or Laura to make the announcement about bonuses and royalty checks and all that shortly. And just a note to former Blackberry users, the Passport I have still works! I finally went through about 70 apps and most work with a few that “sort of” which is incredible for an OS that is essentially EOL! One big surprise there! So the businesses continue as they always have. We also decided on Sunday morning to approach the BBC World Service about IAIJ and see what happens there. We also have started to craft policy on IAIJ members incarcerated by their various systems of society. We still have one member in custody and if this continues I am personally going to see what is going on there.


And that is your update for today.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siygmQQegd0&feature=share

[Maurice Ali]

The shows are archived and being transferred onto an external hard drive.





UN Headquarters in New York



I also booked my hotel near the UN for when I go there in February. You do this now even though you have not been confirmed for the event. That is a fait accompli for me now so you can do things ahead of time. Man, when I think back to the first time I planned a trip to the UN it was such a big deal, now it’s like my home away from home. What else? More home improvements; Monday saw me replace parts on my bathroom sink and I cleaned up the pipe so it all flows freely again. I had to throw out my old container of plumber’s paste as it was the wrong type and was hard as rock – so a trip to Home Depot for more and I also caved in and got a mocha from Starbucks. I met Scott again and told him of our ever expanding ambitions with the TV stuff and he raised the question of what if nobody wants anything to do with it? Well if that is the case we either put it on by ourselves or just go straight to social media and cut whatever deal we can with those folk – but – do it worldwide following our aims at mass dissemination of the idea. Real broadcast is better but you always have a plan “B” and plan “C”. I am heartened by the attitude of worst case scenario by my gang. Every time they were all enthusiastic about some project of ours, it always flopped badly. Sign this guy to a recording contract and you will make millions! I actually got that from my gang – guess what – we made peanuts (surprise, surprise) from that person. On the other hand; everyone laughed – yes actually laughed – when I stated my ambitions to talk to countries at the United Nations about rights and freedoms when Dan interviewed me, and rolled their eyes when I threw caution to the wind and stated that I wanted to make a speech on the floor of the General Assembly. All of that came true. Nobody thought we had a chance at getting on TV back in the day – but there we were on Channel “3” coming on after Saturday Night Live (hosted by Sting). That’s how it goes with us. So I am still pumped and going forward.




Scott



The experiment is finished, the money has been paid and I‘m not getting any of it back. I’ve got nothing to lose so I’m going all out. What else is there to do! Sure I’ll ask for time with delegates of member nations at the UN and pitch our positive mandate idea along with others. Nothing to lose! You spend 14 years of your life to position yourself strategically to make this play – so you make it! The Fates have kept you youthful and spry so the only thing that happens is the various philosophies and concepts butting heads together. The Fates want this to play out. They want their entertainment, and I want resolution!


In other news:




Sam signing royalties in 2014!



We will announce the trip to the UN in February and the Christmas bonus and royalty payments shortly or by the end of the week at the latest. Meanwhile, I just go through the motions and pretty up our TV presentation package and see if I can send off another package before things slow down for the holidays. Also, while I do home reno, the squirrels are in the attic again, as I heard them when I got up. Some things never change.....




Goodnight.....





(NSFW)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_j6NO8GGJ0&feature=share

[Maurice Ali]

Ok, we have our next target for our TV series submission.....


The next one will be Much as in formerly Much Music! We should have the package off by Friday or Monday at the latest. I wanted to get another TV series presentation kit off before things slow down for Christmas and this broadcaster is it. I picked this one as they are probably interested in getting some original programming the way we are offering it up, and there is so much music imbedded in the programming it really does fit in with the licence requirements as dictated by the CRTC. So we will submit and see what happens. I am playing the numbers folks. Play the numbers and the numbers always work out! I have won sales awards playing the numbers game. I does work out. Anyway this is number two or three if you want to count in TVO. At least another seven to go before probability theory says we get interest based on Michael’s insider quip of our chances. But regardless, we just keep submitting....





I am always surprised by people who think producing music, making television programming, printing the newspaper/journalism and publishing books and international advocacy at the highest levels is interesting? Sure we may eventually help implement a new form of global governance and give humanity its marching orders. Sure we produce music of all genres and put it out there as reality TV pushing our core objectives and push entertainment and information out there for the best background on which to help citizens make informed decisions and which ultimately impacts their self-determination. But after all this time it just more of the same old. So this is the environment I operate in, along with really cheap trappings of pseudo success which may or may not be there. Driving an entry level sports car. Flying around the world and not just to New York but Geneva and Vienna via London and Paris in the next few years and maybe into Africa. But it is business. This is not some James Bond novel or movie. The reality is always different. There is always a pretty face somewhere around me nowadays. Creative people all around and yet I am so alone in this. I don’t know quite how to describe it. Anyway, at the end of it all I won’t mind placing some of my gang in the media as they wish as I am probably the only one that can make this happen for them. How can I put you in my mind?


It just is not as you imagine. The UN stuff is amazingly simple and easy in some ways and yet impossible in others. Just not what I thought it would be – and still you are there as a real player – How on earth did that happen? And so quick as in just side stepping from one reality into another – Amazing! Anyway, we do have the buzz right now and as long as we have that I have all the resources I need to play this out. There is no choice for me now; the choice is in others as my moral imperative is in full expression. So we shall see what choice beholds us from the people at Much. Sounds sexy? That only props up your fantasies if you buy into that stuff being the good life, and for some of my gang that is exactly what they want. For me I am trying to disseminate to humanity what the good life really is. I don’t play that game of lusting after something an ad campaign says you need to be happy – That is just a money making lie. Telling you what you really want instead of what naturally makes you happy and complete. No James Bond fantasy here. It is what it is.....And I have a job to do.....




Goodnight.....







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mQpFS0bhNk&feature=share

[Maurice Ali]

A quick one as I have errands to run.....


Actually I was all set to talk about my thoughts on love, but the feeling or mood left me as I got some sleep so you get the standard update now. I’ll get back to it soon enough as some of you might find it interesting but not now. I pay off my property tax today. This is a minor thing but I don’t need the agro of thinking about it and that it has to be paid so that happens this morning. The suits and alterations are overdue and I will call the lady and see what is up. Those are the majors and then a bit of work on the Much or Much/Music presentation.



The old Much Music logo from years back!


So far I have the DVDs burned and I have all material from CTV which is extensive. And I have started to fill in the forms and alter cover letters and such. This will take me through to Monday but then we should be good to go. Much is familiar to everyone in Canada but has gone the way of MTV in the States. But people instantly know what I am talking about when I tell them we are submitting to Much. It was surprising how many people are now interested in what happens with our sales presentation. Maybe because, while they are still negative on air play, Much seems like a logical fit. With our music heavy immersion in the series it actually fits the original broadcast requirements for the channel, is 100% Canadian content and pre-shot as budgets for start-up original programming are now few and far between. So if they actually open up the package and look at it we may get some interest, and it is here that people are getting interested. They are interested in how Much acts off the screen, and the intricacies and especially the behind the scenes intricacies of putting on a series with a big-time broadcaster. Much is under CTV which is under Bell Media. This is the same set up as when we aired Don’s show in 2009, so we do have some connection to that regime. So there is some budding interest in how this all pans out even if it does not go to air. We actually put TV on the air with these guys so we have a chance (CTV still has the tape of Don’s show). They seem to actually look at me as a real producer now. Not a big shot producer with oodles of cash and starlets; but what I actually am which is this small time, but real, producer pushing his small time reality TV series, driving around in his entry level sports car with a talented stable of performers just one step away from legitimacy and staff that sees a closer step to getting inside into a career somewhere in broadcast media. It’s sort of a sadder more impoverished version of what I did not want to see ten years from when we taped The Fortress TV Show. Mustang instead of the Porsche or BMW with some 20 something in the passenger seat (that part is true but no bimbos - just staff and performers); Willowdale instead of Leaside and all the rest – but technically I still did not go there so I still have my integrity! Anyway, everything is there and knocking on the door – and that is where the interest is now coming from. All that just puts more pressure on me.....hehehehehehe..... Anyway, that is where things stand now and I have to beetle out of here and spend money like a drunken sailor paying taxes.


Goodnight.....





http://fofentertainment.com/Maurice_10_Years_From_Now.wmv

[Maurice Ali]

Thursday was a big day and lots got done.


Paid the property tax, picked some stuff for a little display that goes to Much. Picked up and checked the alterations of my two new suits. Sort of like that and you always feel like you accomplished something when all the “things to do” get crossed off on your things to do list!


By contrast the start of Friday has me sleeping in and doing nothing. But that is the way it goes. So the weekend will just be the Much presentation kit. It helps to just ease off on the throttle every now and then. I think I’ll go for a walk now. Simple, just keeping it simple. We will do the royalty checks starting next week after we submit to Much.....



Later.....

[Maurice Ali]

This weekend is all about the Much proposal.


Saturday is just finishing up the pamphlet. I redid the front collage with higher rez photos and made a white border for more consistency if I don’t bleed it to the edges. But I will tweak things there for Much and print it up before the printers go home for the weekend. Having Kinkos leave Canada gets rid of that all night weekend print shop access which sucks big time!


I should also finsh putting together the desktop display for Much and label the DVDs. Then all I have to do is complete all the forms and send the thing in. The strategy is now set with Canada bidding for video distribution of the experiment as is; while the States is for a “based on real life” series made up their own way. In the States we end up with a pretty refined pitch with completed shows and all which I guess is needed for the big guns in the industry I am headed to. I may actually get to use the Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer/agent I have there. Options and more options. At least if it ends up on youtube we will have exhausted all chances before that. But I am still upbeat on the whole thing. You only go around once and this definitely is our story.


It is what it is.


Something good has to come of all that. When I was a teenager here in Toronto this was this other brown girl, quite attractive; but that didn’t stop me from seeing her passed out from an overdose with her eyes wide open staring at nothing in this medical room. I don’t even know she knows I know. But attempting suicide because you can’t cope is one way out. Didn’t work for her though. For me it was trying to figure out why the world and why humanity always seems to end up as this festering pyramid of dog shit with flies buzzing around it. At like fifteen I was reading university level text books on brain function/physiology and general anthropology. In university days I worked as a security guard for the Post Office and went through two books of fiction and a text book every night. I was a freak! A total mental freak! And I had ideas – that guy is gone now – and the bigoted world I lived in didn’t allow any of that ability to express itself and go somewhere. My positive mandate addresses that from the top down. NEVER AGAIN! If regular humans can’t stop acting like assholes on their own, their better natures have to be brought out by good policy. The only positive outcome of all that wasted talent and hurt is what is happening now. So far so good at places like the UN were you have a more diversified and educated crowd. But back in TV land it is the usual. They may read this so I will just hope that they let their better nature’s review what is going on in the TV series – and do the right thing.....







Goodnight....




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vJtt9PXPz8&feature=share

[Maurice Ali]

For Saturday we tweaked the TV series bible and added the new graphics. These graphics will also adorn the Fortress Experiment main page replacing the old one. All this should happen later this Sunday. I tried to get the series bible printed on Saturday but the printers went home early so that was that. So this will probably all be done on Monday after all. For Sunday is just doing all the paper work to submit to Much. Then off it goes and we take care of the record label.



The Sam The Record Man back in the day!


It’s Sunday morning at sunrise and I think I will drive downtown and take a look at the new Sam The Record Man sign. There already is controversy over the new sign which for historical reasons was commissioned to make an appearance somewhere near the Yonge-Dundas Square. So far the controversy revolves around positioning the sign in the background of the square on this city owned building and also the fact the sign isn’t like the original, but more like a lighted venetian blind. The slats were in response to wind gust integrity concerns and while I sympathize with the engineering problems, something better could have been done. But no matter, I haven’t seen it yet so off I go early on a Sunday before things get busy and I will take some pictures and render my own decision shortly. The Sam The Record Man chain was a Canadian icon since the 1930’s and Sam’s iconic twin discs were a city landmark as well as in countless TV shows and movies. This signage at YDS was a promise by Ryerson who demolished the store, to maintain the prescience of the iconic landmark. The location at the square does - I think - pay tribute in the right way as many musical events including our own FOFSTOCK took place there. We also sold our music at Sam's just a stone's throw away from the square. So FOF actually does have a connection here. It is only – now – in the execution that the controversy arises and I should find that out for myself in about an hour.....




Later.....

[Maurice Ali]

I slept in.....




The signage from the front of Yonge-Dundas Square!



I hate that when it happens. But I did go downtown and looked at the sign as you can see in the two photos. Meh – is the word. I will have to see it at night to make a final judgement. Anyway Monday is for submitting to Much and then I can relax. There is also bad weather coming so I have to get this started now so no expanded thoughts on anything until tomorrow.




The close-up of the sign!



Later.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63iSpcS0qg4&feature=share

[Maurice Ali]

The only thing of note is that the proposal to Much got sent out on Monday.





As you can see we changed the series picture slightly. This adorns the website and all the promotional material but is updated and higher in resolution. Much was the last one before the New Year. From here on people are not focused on elective stuff like our proposals so the third/fourth broadcaster waits for January. February is a stab at a broadcaster in the States when I go to New York. All the while we have little chance and even my gang has realistic hopes here. So what keeps me going? Playing the numbers. If I didn’t play the numbers I would give up too easily. But knowing I have to submit at least 10 times means I have to submit 10 times before I can even start to second guess our chances. That is how you do it! That is how I did it in sales. You play the numbers. Each presentation you try your best, learn and apply that to the next, but you play the numbers and just keep pitching. I hope my little plan here works out and you can see firsthand how to handle this type of thing. I have won awards doing this and I even had one presentation taped back in the 1980s as proof – and I just cringe at all the hair and big glasses that were in style back then (being fashionable means cringing at the fashion when it falls out of fashion). But this is an adventure and nothing is certain. But I play the numbers.


I also play the agility game. All our corporations and companies are incredibly agile. We can change things and goals on the go. I deliberately inserted the organization into as many facets of media as possible to give us the widest swatch of opportunities and possibilities for some kind of success somewhere. The TV production house, the record label, the advertising company, the archiving service, the on-line media company and the association all give us different goals and by the numbers such diversity should work out for us in some measure of success. If we just picked the music we would be totally screwed now. But we made reality TV from the music, which gave us the experiment which gave us the UN stuff. The music could be used as advertising background music sold through our advertising company and so on. You get the idea. I play the numbers and I play the agility game!


The killer in all this is time. We started lobbying UNESCO in Canada back in 2009 and made it to disseminating our ideas there at the United Nations in 2017 – eight years! But it did happen. The TV series took 13 years! Step back and you can see that when I tried this at 28, it took thirty years to finally make it happen!


30 years.....


30 years of my life – that is a gamble. But I gambled playing the numbers and playing the agility game. I played it better than I played it in my 20s. I sort of knew about all this back then, but I just could not do it. Superior intellectually, but age, experience and resources is what ultimately made this reality. Made my dreams and fantasies into flesh. But thirty years is a lifetime and I am middle aged and there is no turning back. Not that I would want to. My game plan has panned out. I have the ability to do what I always wanted to do, and that was to be that “Man of the World”. Fulfill your destiny. I was never going to be father and one of billions. You were always on this other path and that was a path you could not shake. And society would never let you have it any other way. But in all that, there are no guarantees. It could all end now. I always tell people it is over before you know it. But I can’t think that way. We as an organization are in too rarefied a position to make some change by our ability to influence. And nobody is ready to take the reins from me yet and do it. So it is still on me! This can’t be the end! But time will tell and this is reality after all. The Fortress Experiment may be over but my life is not. I did reach all the goals I set out to do and that is the vexing part. Giving a speech in General Assembly came too easily. That ability to speak to member nations of the UN is a rare thing. Usually member nations and NGO are separate entities, but at this event all were invited, and I got my chance. Just how greedy am I? I am as greedy as can be as my intentions and goals for our organization are good! I’ll just leave it at that.....


But back in the real world the Much proposal is sent. That means I am free to coast a bit as all we really have to do is get out the royalty and bonus checks. I am stuck inside with the first heavy dumping of snow for the year. Any questions about my little Mustang’s ability to run in the snow were answered yesterday and it all is good. When my first snowfall happened with my first Mustangs I was running Pirelli snows anyway after smashing my first Mustang on the highway with a little sprinkle of rain on the road. But I replaced the 225 wide tires to a narrower one and with snows I never had a problem even when I permanently switched to all- seasons. The narrow tires on this Mustang are 235s – even wider than before! Most that went wider with this car have the steel rims and snows on now. But my car is fine – it does have traction control that my earlier cars didn’t have and the multivalve engines produce the torque higher up the rev band so that helps too. This car is faster than my old one but much more civilized. But with my set up I keep the aluminum and original tires and don’t have to spend a cent. So that problem is answered. Monday was also riddled with bad luck, but you know I love little bits of bad luck as long as the big good luck moment comes back – like in airplay, please?


From changing the world – or trying to change the world to snow and the tires on my car. This is my life.....




Goodnight.....





http://www.fortressoffreedom.com/Salesman_Of_The_Month.wmv

[Maurice Ali]

Today is all about the record label.....

[Maurice Ali]