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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2018 9:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maurice Ali wrote:
TWENTY6HUNDRED Gets International Airplay!



By The Staff at FOF Records






The front of Twenty6Hundred's latest CD!



On behalf of all the staff at FOF Records we at FOF would like to Congratulate Twenty6Hundred on the international airplay they have received on their latest album Until The End. Getting radio play is always hard and it has to be said that Twenty6Hundred is getting its music played and getting a following world-wide. And by "world-wide" we are talking about 30 countries right now!


So from all of us at FOF, we wish Twenty6Hundred continued success with their latest album! Don't forget you can buy their music and stream it on all the popular music sites on the web.








http://twenty6hundred.com
http://fofrecords.com





FOF RECORDS: CUTTING EDGE MUSIC!





Yes, Twenty6Hundred is making moves around the world! Those guys just don't ever stop!


As for me we are trying internationally with the positive mandate and that for me means starting to burn DVDs and order more DVD stickers which I will do this morning. Then off to the printers for more pamphlets and so on. We should close off submissions for the next edition of The Fortress as I have been dragging my feet on that. My day today started at 4:30am and quickly went downtown for Starbucks at 5:30am and was fielding IAIJ calls just after 6:00 from down under. I live international hours. That type of lifestyle is almost cultish these days and I am in it fully! Never thought that would happen. Never thought anything that happened after 2004 would happen. One long rollercoaster ride for sure.


I will miss this when it is over.....



Later.....
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 7:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just more and more work to do.


It never ends. Friday morning I pop by the office and then off to the printers and then check out some cars and then catch up on emails and then start burning DVDs. I figure maybe a week to complete the package for Bhutan. Then starts the painful process of calling up those five or so broadcasters we submitted our stuff to. Then start on the next issue of The Fortress!




An early issue of The Fortress!



I need to keep reminding you that the experiment is over. What is going on now may still be interesting so I keep punching out these updates but the stellar rise of the orgs is tapering off and longer term goals are in play. That just does not work for TV which is immediate gratification. But this is reality and reality takes as long as it takes. I am not going to do the Youtube.com thing and start wearing wigs and making a fool of myself to keep the views up. I don't get advertising revenue from my place and I don't care about views. It is just an archive of how all this came about. I am generally a prolific writer anyways so this works for me as in integrating the updates into my life. So boring as it may be we just keep trudging along. But the future is still - surprisingly - open to me. How about that at my age.....




Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Sat Jun 09, 2018 4:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The advocacy continues.....




(Photo: Bhutan Website)



Our person of interest from Bhutan is the Permanent Ambassador to the UN for Bhutan. I have the name and address in New York to send our package to. All I have to do is go over all that material and make sure it is up to date and then we just write up a cover letter and away it goes.




Paro Taktsang in Bhutan



Now realize that all along the idea was to disseminate ideas on the world stage. If I just kept that as the goal I might have spent my entire lifetime just to reach doing that. But look what happens when I leap frog over that ambition and up it to direct advocacy. In that realm dissemination is a sub part of the process. In fact we disseminate the idea and yet feel disappointment that we did not make action over and above the dissemination. I am more effective at my core ambitions by constantly raising the bar. Plus if we actually get somewhere with direct advocacy - then everyone wins!


The funny part is the use of the TV shows in direct advocacy. I just never saw that happening, but there you have it. Everything gets used at our organization. Anyway that is the priority - getting out the second bit of advocacy and then just see what happens.


I could ramble on about my life for you but it would be just more of the same. But the end game is a better world and I have seemed to have carved a niche for myself in that bit of influence.



Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Sat Jun 09, 2018 8:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well Saturday was a very productive day for me.....


I printed up the three pamphlets I will include in the promotion kit for Bhutan. I also got the printed material for the rotating display. And I have a spare rotating display ready to go as I can't seem to find them anymore. I also lucked out on one last slim fit DVD case for the TV shows. And as I write this the last of these DVDs are burning on a couple of FOF computers. Strange that my biggest play goes back to the Himalayas where most of me comes from.


All I really have to do now is nail down the cover letter to the Ambassador and just send it off and cross my fingers. Just like that! 14 years and sending this stuff off to people is like a production line. Bhutan is one of the more important ones as they brought about the happiness index so they may be interested in my positive mandate more than other nations. I'll be honest with you and state that I am in absolute horror at the possible reaction or no reaction to our ideas. But this is the gamble you take initiating new ideas and concepts. It is exciting and ego building when all possibilities are open. Then the reality of the results takes place and it can go bad - as in very bad. This time next year when the advocacy for the mandate is played out and the TV business is sorted out - well - I may just be back to plain old "citizen Maurice Ali". Just me without wife or family or anything else to show for my life.


That may be the cruelest cut - going back to the life of the everyman - but that is life. I can't force anyone to do anything they don't want to do. All I can do is what I can do and so please just judge me on that.....




Stating my goals on The Fortress TV Show!



You do look at what other people have and you did have a chance once when you were married, but there was a reason that did not work out. You don't have what they have but you have this. And not having what they have is the price you have for having what you have now. And that is the chance to change the world - even if it is only in a small way. The chance to change things! I wish I could have you experience the thrill, the empowerment, the zeal of having that chance to change things! Then there is the abject horror show of making the plays and see things continue or die before your eyes. In every game there is a winner and loser, and usually the camera follows the winner at the end of it all. But there is the other side that lost and we really don't want to see that as it reminds us of our losses. But it does happen and I have to prepare myself for that if it does. The orgs will still have to continue and I will just have to find whatever there is left out of life I can - but there is no more starting over at my age. If things go really bad I guess I will just seem to have turned into an old man overnight. This actually happens to guys who held positions of power or influence and then lost it all. They turn into old men overnight.....


Hopefully that does not happen to me for a few more years. But having said all that, all I have to do now is make the plays. I do this for the kids and they deserve a better world than the one we have now. Make the play, make the play, and make the play. Deal with things after the play is executed!




Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEXXES5v59o&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 3:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nothing about the advocacy got done on Sunday.....


Aside from the usual Sunday morning talks with the directors I did nothing but set up the cover letter to start the first draft. What I did do was go to Tesla Motors to check out a new Tesla Model S P100D - one of the fastest cars in the world - and it's all electric!





Yes, unlike other dealers, Tesla opens on Sunday. I arrived half an hour before opening to check out the third fastest car in the world. You would never know it from looking at it. It is an unassuming four door sedan.....



Tesla Model S P100D



Tesla Model S P100D interior!



But this car will do 0-60 in like 2.4 seconds and Motor Trend caught it doing 2.28 seconds making it the third fastest car in the world 0-60!



The full sticker!



Close-up view of options and price!


This car was still in the wrap as imported from California. And yes these cars do come with the window sticker. Sticker price was 193,700 dollars (there is always that!)! Check out the options like over 6 grand for the auto pilot, and and over five grand for the upgrade to carbon fiber wheels. Now I am big on unstrung weight but it is a pity that they always have to paint over or coat over the carbon fiber on many wheels. You would never know you are looking at like two grand for each rim - but there you have it. Light wheels aid in acceleration and some wheels for the Mustang can cost as much as 16 grand for a set of 4 in carbon fiber!




Tesla Model S P100D carbon fiber wheels!



Anyway, Tesla is a cool place to visit. There is a bank of recharge stations at the side of the lot and before I left I kept my eye on the sorts of people that came to Tesla. Not many tire kickers as I was the only one coming in there with a regular internal combustion engine. Everyone else drove in with a Tesla, mostly the SUV sized Model X. The people were ugly and ordinary. I figured you would see well groomed Euro-spec rich people - but no. One portly Asian guy wearing glasses and one White woman that literally looked like a welfare mom came in and charged her Model X and then took her dog for a poop in the corner of the lot out back (I'm sure the staff appreciated that).



Charging stations at Tesla


But the electric cars are ridiculously fast, not mostly the run of the mill Teslas. Most of those I could make a race of with my lowly Mustang, but this model and especially the upcoming roadster are literally -wicked fast.



Anyway I had family matters to attend to like a birthday party. I made headway on the advocacy front on Saturday so I drove around drinking mochas and looking at more cars. Balance, and always balance. I had the urge to just go for it and finish the cover letter and just rush it out and send it in. But I decided against that. Balance and keep your head grounded. That is what I did on Sunday.....




Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 6:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Things keep moving along.


The DVDs are done for the Bhutan kit with me picking up the stick-on DVD labels Monday at lunch time. Really the only thing left is to complete the cover letter and send it off to the Bhutan Ambassador's office and wait and see! But the letter is where I sell the idea and whether this idea goes anywhere, so I am going to do it properly. How long it takes is anyone's guess, but not too long. What happens is that you reach a point where you can't think of anything else to add and then you just say enough is enough and send it in. As long as I have no second guesses I am good with that. Just no second guesses. You've spent 14 years of your life and a boat load of money and you have a great idea and now you have to pitch it.




The contents of the kit will look like the one sent to His Holiness, Pope Francis!



The thing is not to be paralyzed with fear. Fear of rejection or fear of even them not even acknowledging your existence. In sports it is easier. There is a clock or some sort of time pressure that makes you have to 'make the play", but here I have some leeway; but you can't let it make you apathetic. An 80% finished cover letter that makes it to the Ambassador's desk is better than one that still trying to be perfect but in the end goes nowhere. They have to get the kit one way or another. So I start real work on the cover letter today and when done maybe one extra day to just make sure and then off it goes. This all sucks in a way as it is more fun on the front end building things up. The back end is like running out the clock. Just like the clock of my life is running out. There is always that. Anyway I just have to do it.....


As an aside our website humandestiny.org is still a page one Google ranked site. Who would have ever thought my ideas on human destiny would rank like that? Or maybe it is just so few people even think about it. It is what it is.....



Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vvrs83TVuM&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 8:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just staying focused.....


Yup - just staying focus and the cover letter is being written. I have the first draft in and the second draft today should pretty well nail all the salient parts and then we just check and tweak it. Also today the rotating display will be done. I wanted to delay posting this until I did the display just to show that something physical got done but that is going a bit too far. It should be ready to go next Monday so we have time. Then back to the TV stuff which I loathe.....


It always strikes me how lonely this goes. I get it, I am the only one at the organization who knows the UN and how that operates, and who has actually interacted with delegates (usually being grilled by them - hehehehehehe.....) and individuals working in the UN system. And don't forget UNESCO where we started! Anyway, I get that, and there is no question the membership is endorsing my activities there. It is just they can't help me now. If I bounce an idea off a director it usually is non-committal and that I would know better. Maybe they are right but it just means you are on your own right now. If we get a few successes and such they will start to trust themselves to get involved, especially some of the younger members.




Maurice Ali for IAIJ at UNESCO Headquarters!



But for now it is all on me. I don't mind it and if it all goes bad then it is all on me and that is fine. It just gets lonely - that is all.....




Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdpz0BJKkkI&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 10:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Almost done but still working on the cover letter.....



Eating a banana in front of the UN Security Council Chambers in session!


But what I really want to talk about is just what I was thinking about and that is optics at big events. Big events have TV coverage and are shown around the world. What you don't see is just as interesting as what you do see. For example it is considered not proper to get into the frame of some VIP talking. At political rallies the people around a politician are deliberately picked for optics and at UN events I have seen the policy of "just stay out of the frame". So if you need to skive off for a smoke you may find yourself on all fours below chair level making it back to your seat to stay out of frame. I guess it's about rank too. Me making some speech and if some big wig is there, they probably would just walk past me and in frame in the back ground because I'm a nobody. But in a room full of Presidents and Prime Ministers they all probably do this because they are all on the same level. This happened to me at a General Assembly event at the UN where I was to give a speech. I skived off to eat a banana in front of the UN Security Council Chambers still in session. Yes, I was in a secured area and could waltz into the Security Council Chambers and watch if I wanted. But my speech was coming up so I ate this banana and took a piss at this washroom big wigs and presidents pissed in and then back to my seat. So there I am with one of the organizers both of us on all fours getting back to my seat - just too funny!



The actual photo.


Then there are photo ops at informal events like golf courses and cruises. Nobody wants to wear a suit and have to go somewhere to change into shorts and such so they just pose with suit and ties on and the shorts or garish golf pants underneath and the press simply shoots them waist up. Even better, you can just do the "Bermuda Shorts" thing which is legal and cover your ass that way. But you will really have to dig to find those shots as it seems an understanding between the politicians/CEOs and the press. But that also happens. There's the reality and the sort of reality of the cropped photo.



The cropped version the actual photo!


So I keep at the Bhutan kit and wonder if anything happens there. I wanted this. I wanted to be a man of the world and that has come true. Speeches at the United Nations and now advocating nations on my own with my own ideas to take back to the UN. That is "man of the world" stuff. I just never fleshed out the details in those fantasies of youth though. It never occurred to me that I would live all those fantasies and maybe never get anywhere with the advocacy. It was just the optics. Sometimes the fantasy is better than this reality. Anyway, it isn't over yet.....


I have no idea why I brought this up, but that is what was going through my mind.



Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 8:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

One thing that occurred to me yesterday. I was thinking how a guy could possibly do music production and promotion, TV production and distribution, newspaper and journalism and international advocacy on the world stage and make it look: Boring and dull.....


If anyone could perform such a feat it had to be me! Think about it. We made music at the top studios and rubbed shoulders with some of the big names in music back them (I spent an afternoon with the Barenaked Ladies in 2006nformexample). Got radio play. We even held a big outdoor concert in the heart of downtown Toronto at the busiest intersection in all of Canada.




FOFSTOCK!


We put TV shows on our own from scratch with no prior ability and put them on two of the top three TV networks in Canada!




FOF TV Shows!



We produced a real offset tabloid newspaper for many years that sat alongside Canada's largest paper! Ran a book publishing company with books in the largest libraries!




Print at FOF!



Started a journalist association with membership in the hundreds worldwide along with advocacy at the highest levels pushing ideas of our own!




Advocacy at the United Nations!



I should be one popular and exciting guy. But right now I am just punching this alone in my bedroom and later on tonight it will just be me-myself-and I! How is that, and how can that be? You tell me. But that is the fact. Me back in 2002 and me now have changed immeasurably in my professional side. But not in my personal side. It was said to me more than once: "You now have a life - Just no personal life!" Even funnier is the people who act shocked when someone from the media industry kills themselves - after all, they had a hit TV show.


For me the dissemination of ideas with them becoming a part of the minds of all is the big rush. Everything else is just a means to that end. So maybe I don't play that part up like some would and devolve into debauchery with booze, drugs and women. Personally that would kill the advocacy but some would consider that fall to be worth it for the experience. Not so for me. The big prize is more personal and abstract.


I was just thinking about this. And I find if funny how some people resent the fact that I got these experiences but don't appreciate them like they would have. Like I said before, the fantasy is better than the reality. The wanting is better than the having.....



Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wtYGZt7aI4&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 5:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A really late one today.....



Jessica in 2008


I started it off with doing an update with Jessica. It has been ten years now and we needed to check up on things. Ten years - never saw that kind of time involved when we first signed her up!



Jessica in 2018


Anyway that was early in the morning and I hopped up to my dad's place after that and then back home. Then I basically slept a few hours till now and that was the day right there,


I will still try to eke out a few more things but that was the day! Gone - just like that! The big thing is to just finish the cover letter and then send off the package to Bhutan. That is the big goal this weekend. I was talking and thinking about the TV series which is next. That will be depressing but has to be done. Starting next week. I just have to get up the strength and start to call those people up and deal with the rejection. It is good that it has just turned summer as that makes it easier, but I'm not crazy about this. Anyway that is the situation right now.




Later.....
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 2:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So I'm back.....


The Bhutan advocacy is done but I want to sit on it till Tuesday to fact check and such and then be done with it. Other than that I just want some sleep - so later.....
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 8:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So do you see that post above? And really over the weekend I delayed things that we practically missed a daily post. So I kept that short update up and started another to make up. The problem is that I ran out of time. Between meeting with my gang and finishing the Bhutan stuff and Father's Day and mowing the lawn (had to be done) I was tapped out for time. I was even getting aggravated at the thought of posting something when these updates were rather cathartic for me. Part of that was that in the early days I didn't have to watch what I posted as much. Not that there was anything bad inside that had to get out. But now that we are international and advocating, I am mindful of an international audience and not to delve into subjects that have varying perspectives internationally. That is not hard now but takes some of the edge off a particular rant of the day. The internet is forever and you have to watch what you say as these posts have to be construed as public.


But whatever.....


The Bhutan letter is finally done. I will take one more day to proof read it and keep going over it as you always find stuff wrong. Then I will just make sure everything is correct and then just submit it and see what happens. That will free up some time to go back to TV land at take that abuse for a while. I am actually getting up for the TV rejection - unusually - so I don't want to lose the emotional uptick toward this activity. Make the play but make it as best as you can. So one more day before I send the Bhutan package in.


One more day.




Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 11:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well the big news is that the package is sent off to the Bhutan Mission in New York.


More later...
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 8:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

With the Bhutan package in the mail, I can now move on to other things.....




JL with The Lox Poster!


Top of mind is keeping all the branches of FOF functioning. For example I want to keep the record label relevant. While we still produce music I really like bringing in big name acts to small venues. The problem here is that the 'big name" acts insist on proper liability insurance. Especially the Rap acts and you can count on something happening at those concerts sooner or later. They don't need the law suits or the aggravation! For example look at the poster for The Lox concert we had a few years ago. They came up from the States to Niagara Falls but the venue was an upstart and didn't have the liability insurance. So Sam got into the promotion and FOF became locked at the hips with D-Block which is The Lox's record label. You can see it in the top right corner of the poster "D-Block and FOF Present" - so anything spectacular in a bad way really ends up on me because D-Block would be safely back in the States by then. Same thing with rapper "Freeway" but he got robbed in Toronto before his date and that got cancelled. But you get the idea, I have the 20 million special events insurance (and more if needed) and that is enough to cover everyone's ass if it goes south fast during a performance. That gives FOF some negotiating power to get notable names into Toronto at intimate venues if the artist is interested (or visiting and wants to use it also as a business trip - it has been known to happen). So we shall see how that goes.....


The Fortress is long overdue. Laura should put up the notice that we are going to print and put out the 2018 version of the paper. No biggie here as we do it every year - but that has got to be done.



The Fortress Experiment poster!


The big elephant in the room is the TV series distribution or sale. I will list our broadcasters and select the first to be contacted by us and move down the list. It should be noted that I hate, I despise, I loathe, this portion of TV production. It is very negative even if it gets on the air. They rip your productions apart and that is why people like Shane will not go to the early calls. If there is interest things get more civilized and then they make changes - always that, but the gang will get involved at that state. You should also note that many TV productions never make to onto the air. Remember that 8 movie DVD I bought at Walmart for five bucks a few weeks ago. Well one of those production never got real distribution and the producer went bankrupt. That will never happen at FOF as I run things on the cheap - a good business education is a must! I was surprised at how the TV series is being used at the UN for promotion of the advocacy. Never really saw it being used in such a way but at the very least it saw real use there. I just never thought much of it in terms of actual advocacy - never saw that coming, that's for sure!



For now I need to just relax for the balance of the week and take things easy. The TV stuff "is" taxing on your body and mind, but has to be done. I laugh when people read about the music and TV stuff and think it is exciting..... Exciting? Really? Hahahahahahahahah.....



Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Thu Jun 21, 2018 10:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well I have selected our first broadcaster to go knocking on the door and it is Vision TV.....







So anytime after next Monday is good to go and I will call and see what happened to our rather large package and what is up over there.




The package sent to Vision TV!




Vision TV in downtown Toronto!


I am really run down and it was apparent yesterday when I had no energy whatsoever. Probably the heat we have been having here but the down time is going to good use. Better now than in some critical negotiation moment with whoever. And that is the type of day it is. I am back on my exercise regimen and cutting down on the calories. The weather is great and so I am primed for the "horror" of dealing with people in TV land. And that is the update so far.....




Goodnight.....
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