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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2018 7:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The CRU Digital Cinema Packages are finished! I checked and they have the correct format and specifications so it is all good to go!




Linux hack!




The two finished and labeled drives and power adapter on the left drive!



Cinematographer Magazines


And that folks spelled the end to actual production of the movies! After the feature length movie was done I celebrated by getting a mocha at Starbucks and looking at some Corvettes, and then I went to Chapters to look at the magazine rack and found two magazines I eventually bought – American Cinematographer and Canadian Cinematographer. How do these publications even exist today? But I look at this anomaly as a revelation and bought both and took them home. Then I made the short CRU and production ended so while I was an actual cinematographer I also read the cinematographer magazines! Speaking of the huge color grading room at Deluxe - that was one article in the magazines - was my problems with color balance. In the photo below you see Dalila holding a white card we use for color grading (as the FOF stuff is photoshopped after the fact). We spent like an hour on color balance as the dress she designed and made was showing up more orange then red - and this is how it went.



Checking white balance!



Dalila!


Another one I have to invite to the premiere is Dalila, a business woman who designed club style fashions and manufactured them for the club scene in North America. She knew Dan and knew we were making some music videos and she came to meet me at Dan’s place by the pool like some Hollywood movie clip, and straight out told me she wanted to be in a music video. Ok, she was very pretty and all but there was method to this madness. Since she was in the designing and manufacture of club fashions she didn’t have the money for TV commercials (this was just after we aired the Fortress TV Show) but she could get her designs aired for free all over the place if they appeared on a music video distributed by us who had access to the second largest network in Canada. We were doing a video on a song called "Marilyn" and this was about some attractive woman who used and abused men to get what she wanted. The idea was brilliant so I was going to go ahead with the idea and this took about a month of weekend visits to our FOF Studio which was the entire first floor of my house with a reception, office, storage room, bathroom and audio booth for sound recording. Anyway, since it was about fashion and designers, the movie would spoof this with white screens and a make shift runway with the background plainly visible to show it for what it was. And it worked as you can see in another making of video:



Dalila's the studio setup!


Shoot the music video stuff and the next weekend she would be back and sit with me looking at the rushes and making sure the product presented properly. The blacks could not be crushed as she had outfits with different textures of black material and wanted people to see it all including black lace and all the rest. We had fun but it was also plain work and a business operation! All this is lost now in the era of “me too” and there is no sexual harassment or workplace harassment or casting couch or any of that here. But the optics are bad and I found out about that when TVO screened the material in one of our shows and that was the last chance of Dalila having real screen time on the project. She is there in the movie but just a head shot in a coat – yes it has come down to that! I actually had to wrestle with myself about showing the clip because of what the women might think about this and thus the explanation above. But the video might make the rounds without people reading this explanation and so I am not providing the link anymore. If you dig around you may find it but whatever, cooler heads prevail and they prevailed now.



Dalila!


Oh, one more thing as I mentioned that Dalila only ended up with a non-speaking head shot in the end. I would love to have all the cast say something when they come up but now I know why having a line is such a big deal in a Hollywood movie. The reason it is a big deal is beause it uses up screen time and when you speak you are centre stage in the scene. As soon as someone opens their mouth you then have to let them finish what they say or it makes no sense. As you cut a film down all that time adds up and then you realize what a big deal speaking in a film means. Just something you pick up along the way and then realize why something you didn’t fully understand - now makes perfect sense.....



And so that is how it went. The CRU drives are done and ready to go. I can now make a DCP all the way through on my own and this will come in handy when we host our first film festival later on in the 2019 year. At least I got that much out of all this hassle!




Goodnight.....





http://lottofilmfest.com
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 9:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Typing this out on the phone.


Today I buy two new hard drives and start experimenting. The two drives for the movie are done but that is just the down and dirty example. The audio is at 0db and really is too hot for the theater - as far as I know. Of course the projectionist could just turn down the master fader and make note of that setting, but we may still make it to some small festival that just puts it into the machine and plays it. So I am going to try to make some more compatible CRU DCP drives and see what happens.


First is trying to format at ext2 (inode128) as that will play everywhere. I can format ext2 but inode 128 is the big question. If I cant then it’s ext3 (inode 256) as that is the way the CRU Corporation issues drives today.

Next is turning down the volume. The pros say at least -8 (from TV levels which I know something about) and for nubies -10 and still others at -10 to -15! I think -10 as that there isn’t much dynamic range other than the concert stuff so maybe -11. (There a King Solomon move.) That is how it goes now. I also have to make a flyer and send it out to friends, cast and crew. Also on a few street posts to bring in the general public.



What kind of music am I listening to now? MY WAY by Limp Bizkit.




Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn8vzTsnPps&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Wed Dec 05, 2018 11:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Real progress is being made!



Command to change inode number!


So I finally got the coding to reformat a hard drive in Linux to EXT2 (128) node. I’m currently replacing the hard drives in the CRU drives with the correct format that will play anywhere. These will house the -10db versions and I will create -3 versions on the other 2 drives seeing what the guy did with 5.1 Dolby. So we will go with the -10 and have the projectionist set the levels up from that – but – if he can’t and they are still too low we give him or her the -3 hard drives instead. So that is the plan there, and that is it as I now can do much of anything that needs to be done film wise. So now it is on to getting the word out on the world premieres.


I can’t get the word out all on my own so I am getting my gang to help out. That will work but some of the women from the early days are going to have to be contacted by myself as they hooked up and had kids and while still members and staff, have to be looked for. The first was Sam, my “right hand woman” as she does the payroll and the bonuses. So we will hook up shortly. Sam is now very pregnant, so I will have to deal with that when me meet. Usually putting your hand on the stomach and feeling the baby move with the lady all proud as punch about what she has spawned. Well that is life and things move on and get born!



Samantha Blackwell


http://fofentertainment.com/Sam_At_YDS.wmv


Another one is Emily the third person to join IAIJ (Sue was the second after me). All of 17 at the time, she got in my good graces early as I caught her defending IAIJ and FOF with her friends – man did that make my day! Be still my beating heart – as in – if the kids see the merit of my philosophy and ideas, then I am good to go with all the advocacy!!!!!



Emily


http://fofentertainment.com/Emily_Sweet_Dreams.wmv


Another one is Gianna, again now settled down with family. She wasn’t when I met her and she is the host of the Fortress Variety Show if it ever airs on TV (hint: it probably will) in series distribution. While Emily gets honorable mention by defending the organization and by extrapolation me, Gianna is an entity all of her own. In fact she was so good on set that everyone always asks me who she is. Anyway she came over for an audition which went well and then I drove her home and came back to my place to find she left her cell phone on the fireplace! Who leaves their cell phone that long without noticing it gone! So for the rest of the night I was forwarding messages and such and even the frigging alarm woke me up. She had everything on there, her whole life, and just leaves it behind. It had everything including photos and messages – her entire existence. So I gave it back to her early in the morning. She showed up with Emily not the least bit mortified I had access to all of the phone – go figure? BTW: These women looked totally glam when I gave back the phone, it always amazes me how attractive these people are when they make themselves up – but I digress…..



Gianna


http://fofentertainment.com/Gianna_Variety_Show_Test.wmv


And on and on it goes. I will also see if I can get some advertising in Now Magazine but it may be too late. But whatever – now that the technical aspects are done we just promote. But the technical stuff had to be done even though I could probably have just given the cinema a DCP on a regular NTFS hard drive on Windows. The fact is we are holding a film festival of our own and I have to know it all backwards and forwards and the -10 default is what we will use so I have to see how a theater can handle that. And that is about if for now.


Oh yah: I talked to Tyrone about setting up sub-labels as I support them already and a possible shoot in LA while he is there. But that is for another time…..




Goodnight…..
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 11:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I’m running short on time so I will post the text of this and then the graphics or more text later – but the essentials first!


The new versions of the films at -10db are done and on the properly formatted EXT2 (128 inode) CRU hard drives that can play on any digital movie projector in the world. That is what I wanted! I am also making another full volume backup, but at -3db as per our 5.1 Dolby version. That should do it for the movies and now it is all about the promotion. I am making up a flyer and printing a few sheets today and then maybe redo it with a better version for the weekend. Promotion starts now as we are out of time and two weeks is close enough to remember and make plans. Four hundred seats and I want to fill them all! The reality will be much, much smaller but we have the theater and such so we may as well fill it! Free admission though as the current prices are 14 bucks for tonight’s screening of New Jack City. So we shall see what happens there.





I need a crew to work this event and they should be people in the organization first.





Jessica King



http://fofentertainment.com/Homeless_Jessica_Sings.wmv


Jessica should be there. I met her as a homeless orphan on the street and signed her to a recording contract. Yes, we at FOF sign up homeless youth to recording contracts – nobody but us these days! Anyway, ten long years later she is still with us and active so she should be there. Sam as I mentioned above. Scott Williams may or may not be there. He is a legitimate Actra actor who appeared in the 12 Monkeys TV series and was the MC of FOFSTOCK (also recorded some commercials for us that played on CFNY "The Edge") and did the same for our movie along with narration. Shane will be there arriving in a limo. Same with Laura who runs the office - and so it goes. We are scrambling but surprisingly still on top of things. I am even planning the UN stuff now even though we have no confirmation for anything yet. I will be there regardless in any capacity as social development at the global level is very much of interest to me. So things are happening rapidly now.






Scott Williams





Sam as a fashion model - Yes she was once a model!





Shane who runs FOF Records with his CD at Sam The Record Man back in the day!





Laura Tommasone who runs FOF/IAIJ/More Vision office!






Goodnight…..
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Fri Dec 07, 2018 7:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I need to relax a bit before I can sleep, so you guys and gals get a quickie post now.


As I work on the movie stuff – actually copying the -3db version to another hard drive – I am also working on the UN stuff and, strangely, the music biz. Again, talk about sub labels. I get it if you look at the FOF lineup you see everything under the sun. Since we are still in the biz and growing it only makes sense to connect with sub labels. That would give each sub label a vision of their own not muddied by the other projects going on at FOF. But mainly my belief that the largest section of society can’t stand Taylor Swift and Drake but want something else. My guess is a very soft version of Nu Metal. Nu Metal but with female leads and softer than stuff today. That would be popular – and more than a feeling on my part. They won’t know what hit them!

But whatever, just stuff to talk about. I’ll post the usual tomorrow morning – wave forms of the various movies for comparison. But I love to change things and changing the music industry by offering up new ideas and ways of looking at things is right up my alley! Things change; like the vocal range of Jessica King is alto to a high C. But that was back in 2008. Now “vocal range” means something completely different – hehehehehehehehe…..



Things change…..



Goodnight…..


Ok, I didn’t press enter (and fell asleep) so it all goes as one post. Anyway we are not the only ones with ideas and it is this drag race to see who can come up with the Holy Grail for the new sound. Just soften up the Nu Metal with female leads and neuter any signs of the hard core genre as that defiantly won’t sell mainstream. But the sound is almost there and it is all there right now as in 2017-2018. I was one of the first to buy Poppy’s Play Destroy as I was keen to see how Bubble Gum Metal would play and it has its champions, but a more serious and studious play like in Nu Metal will defiantly get a broad audience. Anyway – enough of all this…..


I’ve started sending out our flyers physically but will pdf it and then start contacting people over social media and then mass spamming to contacts the last week. That is the plan there. I am almost done with the -3db hard drives and that should be it for physical media. After I paid for it, it is a shame I could not use the 5.1 audio for the movie. I just can’t take the chance of murky out of phase audio blasting people for three hours. Four channel (left-center-right) is safer but you have to drop dbs by at least 6 in case there is any clipping when creating the center channel. That is why I dropped the overall mix by 10db just in case. But we shall see just how it all goes. I will show you some screen shots of the 5.1 and 4 channel dropped by -10 db. The 5.1 seems dropped by -3 just to avoid any clipping and that is what we have done with the full volume movies.






5.1 at -3db






4 Channel at -10db



That is about it for now. Just keep creating and moving ahead to present something new to the world. Like with the lottery film festival, we give everyone the chance to create and get the word out there. But they still get stymied by venues that work on the subjective judgment. Well our way gets rid of all that. They stymied attempts to curtail expression and the actual expression itself is being addressed by me as we speak. I talk the talk and I walk the walk – listen to me roar!!!!!






Goodnight…..





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQNtGoM3FVU&feature=share


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8XVZ65JEB0&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Sat Dec 08, 2018 3:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have the flyers made up and ready to go!




The Fortress Experiment Movie Flyer!



So now I live on the phone calling up people and taping the flyers to street lights around the trendy West Queen Street area of Toronto. Well, well, well, me as director and producer of a movie? But first things first - I have to make one final decision on whether to go with -3db or -10db audio levels. If the center feed matches the center feed in the 5.1 I may just throw caution to the wind and hand them the -3db and hope the center does not clip. But I will probably separate that track out this weekend and listen for any clipping myself – and if not then we may go with the -3db.




4 Channel at -3db



But time will tell.


And that is about it. Just work and work and work. I sure hope it plays well. I hope we get a crowd but weather and all sorts of other things can mess that up. This is living life and anything can happen! When you live risky it is usually a nightmare – and then after the fact when things quiet down, you miss the moments when things were uncertain and anything can happen. One goes with the other and sometimes you don’t get what you want. That’s all part of the game.


I’m also doing the music stuff too. I note that Tatiana from the band Jinjer sure seems to be getting sponsored by clothing manufactures like High Life. I think I have a photo of Sam modeling some of their stuff (above) but I flipped the image because they promote pot, but now it’s legal, well I guess it does not reflect badly on the organization. She (Tatiana) claims she does not smoke, so wearing the clothing with huge High Life is obviously sponsorship money in my eyes but I do believe her as singers care about their vocal cords and such and will shy away from smoking anything for that reason. They even have to get sleep before a performance and such that the other band mates don’t have to worry about. Even Emily had to qualify her singing with the fact she smokes because it does affect the voice. As for me I don’t’ smoke pot because I don’t – or – as former Prime Minister Stephen Harper quipped when asked the question: Do I look like I smoke pot?” For some reason when I tell people I don’t smoke pot they always believe me….. Anyway someone has to play the straight man at this org and that’s me. Plus I don’t need any agro at the border with any of that stuff…..



Goodnight…..





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyByj5F9ZjQ&feature=share


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KKlIVml6SE&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 1:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am taking it easy this weekend and just getting the business of contacting everyone started.


I decided on the version I will send to the cinema and it will be the -3db version. I have it on good authority that all theatrical releases go over the -10db threshold so I will go with that one. My virgin audio hits 0db as I used that to keep the levels in a long movie on the same plain without any wander, and the guy who made the first DCP dropped that by 3db. So that version goes out now. I have already put them in the CRU drive enclosures. I will still take the -10db drives and if it is so loud we have to change it then I have the answer with me in the car and will just put that inside the enclosure and be done with it.


Have faith in your ability, as you always seem to make it to the big time every time you try. I have to pump myself up constantly to keep defying the odds like I always have to.


One more thing before I go to bed – and that is that there is no clearer sign that I am supposed to be here, doing what I am doing, at this point of time, with this message. Think about it: I had no chance! They denied me my chance to further myself in so many ways. I didn’t get to be an academician like I hoped to be in Philosophy. I didn’t get to be a family guy. I was just cast out in the furthest reaches of society where I was surly to be forgotten – and yet here I am! Can there be any firmer endorsement of my destiny and agenda by defying all those odds. Even getting to deal with the Commission for Social Development needs consultative status and I was at a point a few years ago where I thought we would always be blocked. Yet we got that and here I am. I am here because I am supposed to be here. The Fates want this collision of ideologies and philosophies to play themselves out. That does not mean I will be successful, but I am a player now and I am in the arena I thought I would always be in as a child; and I can make a play so anything can happen! You have a message to deliver to the people in power, not your message but the people you live among. Your past and your temperament because of your past make you the perfect messenger for this important mandate. That is your play! So just make the play, just make the play…..



Goodnight…..
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So little time I’m typing this out soaking in the tub.


The CRU drives are ready to go! All I have to do is stick on FOF proprietary labeling and maybe contact them tomorrow for delivery by Wednesday. Then pick a time as soon as possible for testing. I downloaded the drive and checked the playback end to end for both films. Every issue was related to the original source material so it is as good as it gets. The video and audio is as good as it gets and no reason to redo any of the source files. This thing is going down folks and the material is now truly locked down!




The Fortress Experiment production still!



I’m also driving around and contacting people. I leave a few flyers and move on to the next one. I am shocked how easy it is to get folk who have been off your radar for years - but there you are!


More talk about sub-label but now we have expanded to two. Just talk but we shall see what happens here. And still looking for that Holy Grail from Nu Metal. Some call themselves self-produced in 2018 but seem to have money to make it more commmercial. No references to Devil worship (and for the record I’m not into Devil worship and will do the same thing), with the screaming and growling hidden in the music. And f**king filters! That just screams corporate to me! The vocals should be uncompressed and everything else manipulated around it! But that is just me. If I see one more of these bands with a White guy in tattoos and dreadlocks, I’m going to puke! Wait they have an answer - a bunch of White guys with tattoos and dreadlocks - Now that’s being creative.....





Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYPoHBzmk18&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I really started contacting people in the movie about the premiere on Monday, but Tuesday I contact the big guns in the film that are in the entertainment industry and see if they are available and to say hi. It is crunch time now and you just put your nose to the grind stone and get to it.



Julianne Roxanne


One person who won’t be coming to the premiere is Julie from the short Real Life: Real Lives. I was going through the list with Shane on Monday and he told me she was dead, apparently of a heroin overdose. That kind of thing always hits you in a strange way as young people always seen to defy those odds and always dodge the bullet of death because of youth. But it bugged me anyway especially as I gave her a hard time in the film about listing the highs and lows of her life. I always thought an attractive woman had it easier in life than the others but she is gone and there you are. A real shame there – R.I.P. Julianne Roxanne…...



Julianne Roxanne facing a tough question!




Julianne Roxanne with the Real Life Crew


More talk about the sub-label and when you really get onto the thick of it there are more downsides than upsides for FOF. Basically to work I have to take control over too many things to protect the organization. Or literally take ownership of the satellite label or sub label. It’s too complicated to get into here but this thing may be frittering away fast, but it is not closed off yet. And interesting exercise as I always quipped that what buries a company is expanding to another organization level without the resources to sustain that level and we are right at the limits…..


Personally bad luck dogs me, the minor stuff that I want – you know the formula. I fell asleep with the hotspot on in my phone and a computer in the place hooked up and drained over four gigs of data for a Windows 10 update for a build that would not take – so a complete waste! So now I have to skimp on data and top up with expensive extra data, and that sucks! All my earphones are self- destructing. Not a big, big deal but I don’t have the time to get some proper ones. The squirrels are in the attic again and I really don’t want them to settle in for the winter so I have to try something there. So as I deal with all that other stuff I still have the usual life stuff everyone else has to deal with and it just makes things more hectic…..



Donald "Boots" Brasseur!


But yes, we lost Donald “Boots” Brasseur in 2014 and now Julie; and shows how the others kept on going in the homeless society we dealt with. We may see a few more surprises but the main characters look to be all there. I will also contact the Royal Cinema about dropping off the CRU Drives and all that today and tomorrow at the latest.



Goodnight…..





http://fofentertainment.com/Real_Life_Crew.wmv
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 5:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I contacted The Royal Cinema and they will accept the CRU drives and test them immediately after the Wednesday screening.



Both CRU movie drives ready to go!


This is great news for me as it gives me the maximum time to ensure the films look and sound good. The material in the feature film is the empirical evidence upon which my positive mandate is based. It is what it was and shot with the best and most resolution we could find. I pined for years on how to meld the SD and HD world and came up with the living HD container and finally just lucked onto a workflow that presents both to the limits of their resolution! There is no question in my mind that the video is plainly superior to the “so called” professionals and that has the upmost confidence with me. The audio comes in several flavors though and is the cause of the most consternation. The one they will screen tonight is the one that should work but If it is too loud then we have the one with the -10db ceiling (in my car or with me and replaceable immediately) which is really overkill. But much of the dialog will go through the center speakers and that is mixed with a program and not by me so that is the only leap of faith. As long as that center channel does not clip we are good to go.


But there is no point pining about the “what ifs” as the “what ifs” are playing out in a few hours. More importantly, what I am presenting is a blueprint for how humanity should live which is pretty balsy but people seem to naturally buy into the message. So the only thing to do is to go down there and see what this thing looks like and sounds like on the big screen with the best sound equipment in the industry as movie studios mix the surround sound at this place by day. So a daunting day for me!




The Royal Cinema Screen view!






The Royal Cinema back view!



Even if only a handful of people show up to the world premiere, it is important that this movie plays well as it may be going places as advocacy. That is what is what is really going on here. So just go and make the play and see what happens…..




Goodnight…..





(NSFW)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co5jDiT_v-Y&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2018 8:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

We have ourselves a: MOVIE!


What had to be one of the more “harrowing” moments of my life came waiting to test the movie before screening on December 22. Nobody at the cinema said they absolutely had to play the thing, but it had to meet certain standards – so…



This was where I sat and tested!


Prior to this everything was upside down including all the bad luck earlier in the week, I needed the Lords of Probability to shine on me for this one and they did! We nailed everything and nothing had to be adjusted! That means I could have cloned the movie and sent it out in real distribution and it would play everywhere just like a Hollywood movie because I adhered to all the industry standards as much of a pain in the ass they were. Waiting for the theater’s movie to end was agony (Eyes Wide Shut – yes my stuff followed that big time movie) and I ended up all on my own. Anyway I looked at the people who were habituates of this place. Mostly good looking people, artists, hipsters, like you would find in an Apple commercial. Young educated, trendy and good-looking. I couldn’t find old, ugly, disheveled or homeless people, but then the price was rather high. People out on dates and groups of girls on the night out. Anyway, after everyone left they sat me down by the sound boards which was the best place to listen to the audio. I was handed a walkie-talkie to talk with the projectionist and I told her the time codes and she would cue up the clips.





Cue list with timecode!



The first was playback of the main movie and so far so good as the images were crisp and clear and formatted. The audio was synced with the video and then the SD material which was glorious on a 40’ screen – how is that possible, but I nailed that! Another “never thought I would see that” moment from material I considered unworthy of movie theater projection, but there you are! Then the really harrowing part as I had them jump to the end and checked for audio sync and it must have been perfect as I then switched to looking at my glorious work making the SD material look fab! Bouncing around to Jelleestone’s concert which would be loudest and the levels were there but not too loud. Then to Real Life” Real Lives and again I have an SD movie looking good on the big screen when it had no right to be. Audio and video were great! I signed off on everything and we are good to go.


I talked to them about promotion and they said they would help me with that on their website if I offered them information and maybe some graphics which I will do this morning. And I left feeling pretty good. About ten minutes down the road I started to have doubts again, as that was too perfect than expected. Maybe the audio was not synced at the end; maybe I was distracted or had a micro-stroke or something. I thought about that but rationality told me that was the first thing you checked and I have the audio to prove that. I would have picked that up immediately and been mortified so it had to be good – but you still think about it. Then even later you wonder if it was a touch too loud. My ears are used to blaring music over the years so what sounds good to me may be too much for others, I told this to the projectionist but she asked me how many people I expected and I said about 100 – and she said don’t touch anything – so….. Integrated loudness was at -22.48 LUFS and -18 should be on the verge of too loud so I should have been spot on. But still you pine over it all. In the moment everything was good so trust your actions. Anyway it is too late now and that thing is going on!


Yes, it was a harrowing experience. Worst than having major dental work done! Basically I paid to have a pro do the DCP and threw it all out the window and did it myself. Anyway that was a provocative move but I was so sure my work was superior, and it is nice to see that rewarded at the moment of truth! Anyway we move on. I was so pumped by the experience of seeing it up on a 40’ screen successfully played that I am probably going to give the project some radio ads on University of Toronto radio next week. Nothing big or expensive like FOFSTOCK but that date is a hard one to draw people in and I will do everything I can to give the films an audience. I also submitted to Now Magazine but nothing there is for sure. Just keep promoting and taping the flyers to light poles in the trendy areas of town. If all I get is “down and out students” and homeless folk in there then that is fine with me as that is exactly how our organization started. This one is for them!





Goodnight….





http://fortressoffreedom.com/Royal_Cinema_Test_3.MOV


http://fortressoffreedom.com/Royal_Cinema_Test_4.MOV
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Fri Dec 14, 2018 12:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I needed some sleep so I slept in.


I really needed a breather so I’m taking it easy today. I did call advertising at CIUT which is the UofT radio station. It is Friday so I don’t expect a call until Monday but I will send them an email as that is how I did it in the past. No matter what I do we will just have a modest sized crowd given the date and theater participation n general. This is just fine with me as originally we just wanted to see how the movie would look on a real theater. Then it became a screening for cast and crew, and then it became a freebie for everyone. So who ever shows up gets an evening of entertainment courtesy of yours truly and the cast that put the movies together.


There are other things I had to do. I am meeting and handing out Christmas bonuses to the staff. Shane and Laura got theirs yesterday at the office. Sam handles the payroll and we should have that done this weekend. Things that have to be done…..


I am avoiding Starbucks today and staying in until I have to leave in the afternoon. Just take it easy. I have to say as an overview I may have been this creative freak as a guy in my twenties, but I am in another universe when it comes to effectiveness as an old fart. Previously I had thought there was not advantage to being old or older than a guy in his prime. But given the same income let’s say, I have completely eclipsed anything I tried as a young man. If fact I am currently in another universe of effectiveness today. All I am saying is that there does seem to have been an advantage given that it is the same person, for age and experience. I tried, I really tried to do what I am doing today as a younger man – and I just could not do it! I just had to spout that out as I was thinking about it today.




Me at 18 an in my creative prime!



I’ll leave it at that. I have calmed my fears about the loudness of the audio at that theater. I am practically at -23 LUFS which is the broadcast standard and some might say -27 is the best for dialogue but things just get louder as we go ahead so I am comfortable to just let the audio go as is and ask people how the loudness felt afterward. I’ll forget about the panic over my memory about the sync, it is in sync and if it isn’t it is time to see a doctor and look into the early signs of dementia or something like that – hehehehehehe….. But that is it for now. Just pay your gang and promote the movies. I am still wondering what to wear as I address the audience – however large that may be – before the film starts. I may just make up a T-Shirt with the IAIJ and FOF logos on it and leave it at that. I will not wear a suit. I will not cut my scraggly disheveled hair. I won’t even wear a blazer as suggested by family. What I am is an older version of the creative guy of my youth who had this scraggly curly mop of hair on his head. Wore jeans and a T-Shirt and runners on his feet, and as much as I talk about differences, I am still that guy. So that is the guy who will talk to this audience. That is the plan so far as we go forward…..




Me on October 5 - only resized - this is me today!




Later…..
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 3:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A late one today, but much is going on!


First up was taking care of the Christmas Cards and the payroll and the bonuses. Every year it gets larger. We are well over 50 on the record label alone and pushing 300 on the journalist org. You wonder how all these people got here and why did they sign up – oh yah…..




Sam today!



Anyway Sam signs off on the paychecks and so I ran off the statements and 150 more flyers and took off for Sam’s place. I pick up Sam and go to the local Time Hortons as her place is full of kids with a friend of hers. I did a quick check to see if there was a Starbucks there but no luck – so off to Tim Hortons we go. For those not in the know Tim Hortons is for poor or cheap people and Starbucks is for the well healed or hipster crowd. So I got a small double/double coffee and a honey dipped donut and Sam got a small tea double/double and she got her pen out and started signing things. I told her I would have to take a shot of her as “prego Sam” for all her admirers who were curious, so there they are. Samantha does not mind the one at the table but the one from across the aisle you can see the – not a bulge anymore but - a real belly holding another human being! The window ruined the shot, and when I told Sam she gave me a snarky smile back. But thanks to Photoshop I got most of the shot sort of exposed in the end!




Sam today!



So with business done I drove her back home. Then all of a sudden Tim Hortons got its revenge for me defecting to Starbucks and the lid lost its integrity over a bump and splattered coffee all over the console. Man was I pissed off – Tim Hortons Revenge – and I didn’t have any napkins or whatever to sop it all up. So Sam had to go in her place and give me some paper towels to clean it all up. Coffee everywhere as in the hand brake leather boot, the stick shifter leather boot, and down both sides and that coffee ran everywhere. The kicker after all of that was that the cheap Hortons coffee put me off going to Starbucks to have my usual mocha so once again – Time Hortons Revenge!


Now it’s back to going to universities and colleges and plastering the place with flyers. But I may wash the car off after I clean out the interior properly. I’ll do that before the sun goes down at like 4:30 or so.


And that is the day so far…..





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojYK6CW8gdw&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Sun Dec 16, 2018 6:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well I know what I am going to wear to the world premiere – that polo shirt I wore on The Fortress TV Show at the start of the experiment! As long as it fits of course but that would seem to be the obvious choice. Then black jeans which is the social icon of the old fart – but I digress…..




That green Polo shirt!



Saturday night had me at Seneca College putting up flyers wherever I could, sliding it between window panes on the covered boards (which could get me in trouble but they had two boards where you could put anything on there). This was depressing as there was nobody there and you think: “So this is where my life has lead me to. An old guy walking around an empty campus putting up flyers when nobody does that anymore.” But to be honest it was a mix of nostalgia doing this and depression doing this. Things have changed and they probably get it all on their phones except for this old guy putting it on the walls. The movie is like the final get together for those in the experiment and it sort of has the possibility of finality about it. What if this is it? What if the UN has had enough of me and does not allow any of the stuff that would get the positive mandate a hearing there. Then this would be it! The last gasp of an old man trying to desperately find some purpose to his waste of a life.




Find our flier!


By default, just having kids and a family gives your life a purpose, you are part of the living cycle of human beings, and you experience all that human beings experience. I am the odd ball, the free martin, the social reject, the outsider. And it wasn’t even for some unfortunate medical reason or anything like that – there was no reason outside of racism. When the advocacy runs out there is no starting over at my age. When it ends it ends in more ways than one. I become the human pylon that old people seem to become. A pylon you walk around or avoid; this is my destiny. So that minor little speech at the movie premiere has more relevance and importance now. That was one reason to wear the shirt. To close the story arc, to come full circle.


I note that everyone I dealt with over this past weekend has a family, all of them have kids. It is I that is the abnormal one, the dysfunctional one. You feel strange and out of place because of it. Sure you now do this major league advocacy but that is a poor excuse for what you gave up in the end. So take the advocacy away and you have nothing - absolutely nothing. So now you get a sense why I can be depressed even though I am in the middle of something exciting. Things may be coming to an end.


This message board – Yup, things are happening here and maybe not for the better. We will probably cross the one million views barrier today. One million views, actually that is no big thing but a big thing here. Here in this wasteland outside of YouTube or Facebook or any of those aggregates. Like I said before that when you start posting on the popular sites you get more views but you start to alter what you say and do to match their commercial interests – and then all you do is fakery and lying to yourself, you become a puppet for commercialism. That does not happen here but one million is a bit of a benchmark. More than that, every time I hit the post button I get error messages. That is one reason I had so much trouble migrating to the latest version of the message board, the database is sort of corrupted. You can see bits and pieces of the corruption here and there. These message boards were never made to go 15 years into the future. So it seems I just keep using it until it breaks and maybe go back a day and leave it be as an archive of sorts and start another one. The posts are still there in the database but that would be a bugger to extract all of that and start again. So that is the situation with the board here.


And that is the sit rep with me at the moment. More flyers and universities for Sunday. It never ends…..




Goodnight…..





http://fofentertainment.com/Maurice_Speech_General_Assembly.wmv


http://iaij.com/IAIJ_Goals.wmv
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 3:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well I officially raised the white flag on getting tons of people into that large theater……


Yup, it isn’t going to happen! This is not that bad as the theater rental is surprisingly cheap and only a couple of hundred bucks more than the shotgun shack Cineplex rental at the Carlton downtown. The malls are way more expensive than The Royal though – that is just highway robbery! But people are just too busy with Christmas to commit to this movie on the Saturday before Christmas. The largest exodus every year happens just before Christmas and that means the day before our date is “operation exodus” and the place becomes a ghost town. Then my premiere shows…..




Ryerson University



In my own family, just my younger sister seems to be coming. That should tell you something there. So I’m not pushing it anymore. That will just make Christmas dinner a real treat! I’m just not pushing it with friends and family. The funny part is that when I got the idea of a premiere I got into this knock down drag out fight with Sam about the type of theater. She wanted to rent the shotgun shack Cineplex at the Carlton that was more cozy and such to watch it. I wanted the big screen and a standalone theater. The premiere had to be large. Go large or go home! In the end her arguments were spot on so I concede she knew her stuff as a promoter of some merit with many years experience. But you got to understand I killed myself putting this movie together. It should never have happened – but I did it! I just had to have that large lavish venue to get us together one last time to celebrate the experiment. So while Sam was the rational one in the head – I was the emotional one from the heart, and now I am paying the price. Paying the price as the Carlton would have given us a date at the end of October so the Christmas excuse did not matter. But the only date for The Royal was the one nobody wanted and that was the 22nd of December. So now we just go with it…..



University of Toronto



Even if it is just me I will be fine with it. Of course it won’t just be me. Shane and his gang are showing up in a limo, so a grand entrance to an empty theater, but the optics should really look go though. I wish that could be me but I have to be there earlier. Shane was plastering Bathurst Street with flyers and I see Dave has posted stuff about it on Facebook. They are trying. I spent the entire day at Ryerson, The University of Toronto, and finally York University. I went through a ton of flyers and will print up flyer version 2 with a description of the films this time.




University of Toronto



But the kids have left the university buildings except for the ones that can’t make it home for Christmas – the ones most likely to come to our gig at The Royal. So maybe that was worth it, maybe not. If you read this and live in the Toronto area come-on down and meet the gang I talk about. Say hi to me and if you knew me from the past lets catch up on things and all that. Let’s have some fun for those that show up!


While I was at York U, I checked to see if those Profs I knew were still working there – yup they are. Mixed feelings about these guys as they may have been on my side but were never the less part of the collective that kicked me out of there – or out of the graduate program. So instead of slipping them a version of The Fortress they got a couple of the flyers each and if they dug around I know Ian would know who was up to all this. He is still there after 35 years when I was there. A charmed life and in Canada’s “Who’s Who”. How do these fossils still teach there as they must be a zillion years old! I secretly hoped they retired or just disappeared from this earth as that finality would force me to close that chapter of my life, all of that consternation I held in myself all these decades. But as long as some of them walk those halls and teach their classes I will have that festering wound from my youth still open and bothering me. Once they are gone I will have peace! Anyway I even videotaped myself leaving them the flyers as my own personal middle finger to the so called better world of academia which unfortunately is just the same metaphor for the real world. It is people like me who do the real grunt work for the true ideological changes – just saying…..


So we passed a million views. The count just keeps going but I see the count is now underlined (in some browsers) – so there is that mark of distinction! At least the board didn’t break so you still get my updates. But if you are a habitual reader here and live nearby, come on down and pull me aside and introduce yourself. I have seen this movie a million times so no loss there, but I would not mind meeting some of the folk that follow these adventures of ours.




Goodnight…..





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wl5BbUg05M&feature=share
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