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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Thu Mar 12, 2020 7:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

We have a new website:


https://aglobalcitizen.net


Someone must have been asleep at the wheel at globalcitizen.org, which is a large well funded org supported by big names and special agencies at the UN. Most globalcitizen variants were off the table for purchase but surprisingly this one wasn’t? Anyway I snapped it up as a portal to our concept of the “global citizen” and it’s contract with all the rest of humanity. In the future I will probably offer it up to that other group to park it as people buy these sites to take advantage of spelling mistakes and such and spam people trying to get to the real site. So that’s how I’ll work this site for now.







Covid19 has put the breaks on everything. The Fortress Variety Show is in “review limbo” as Amazon Prime Video no doubt is adding TV content to the expected viewer quarantines or those not going to to movie houses anymore - go figure?


For me it’s keep adding to the YouTube channel. I now have Jelleestone’s performance and all the drama as YDS tried to shut down FOFSTOCK and failed. I have this on our servers but youtube lets me dish it out in full HD! I’ll probably add more clips for now and then work on entire song performances later. Then interesting and funny clips and start to make the channel a fun and entertaining place when you need a break from the pandemic mania.


As for the pandemic, nobody laughs at me anymore for hoarding proper high end N95 masks, hand sanitizers and all the other cleaners and coronavirus killers I got last month. Even I haven’t worn a mask at all yet, but this can change in an instant, so you prepare (i.e. “It was at this moment Maurice knew - he f**cked up.....”). I will go out into the mall to foredge for more supplies later today and upload more videos.



International advocacy has ground to a halt. I guess I was fortunate to get the vital ideas off my mind and out there before this and into important international venues. We may need two years to get back to normal and then that leaves me with maybe five active years roaming the earth before I have to scale back. I could look for sponsors, but then they have a hand in what you can do and say as it now impacts their brand. Look at the sponsors for globalcitizen. Could they do what I did last month at the UN? Probably not, so it lies on my doorstep to be provocative and take the shots of change as a newbie NGO with little to lose. Yes you heard me prattle about it endlessly - I made the plays and when an opportunity arose I took the shot! The UN is now barking at me to submit our 4 year review and that comes shortly. But even if we were to get kicked out of the UN my life does not change. What I can do is look at myself in the mirror and smile. I disseminated the marching orders for humanity and a new form of global governance. The global vote is just an adjunct to member nations at the UN as we need them to execute the recommendations from a global consensus. Therefore the UN is the proper place for this idea. I was the proper vector to disseminate this idea. Nobody can tell us at IAIJ what to do as - unlike so many other NGOs - we owe nobody anything. That was my job there and this is what I do.....



Goodnight.....





(NSFW - And no, I’m not 4’8” as Jelleestone is basket ball player in height!)
https://youtu.be/Rs6yHVZaidI


https://youtu.be/iSBLmhpA8Ig
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 8:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just a quickie as the coronavirus crack down has started.


Baseball, hockey, basketball, tennis, you name it and it’s suspended. Schools closed for at least three weeks. The good thing is doing this before you have to. Like in the movies - how do you catch a vampire - by aiming where he will be and not where he is. Action and not reaction and flatten the curve. So we shall see how this pans out but the sum effect on me is to change the oil in my car while I can. So that happens today and maybe stock up on tinned food if I get quarantined. Maybe go to the Starbucks in the mall one last time and finally cut the cord on that expensive habit.





Everything else is in limbo so may as well do that stuff. With warmer weather the car stops making noises on startup, I could have them adjust the lash in the heads for the cold weather but it is perfect after a minute and should not reappear for nine months. Unlike all my other cars this one is coming up on three years without a single issue except the cam clatter in the heads on really cold days. This week we had highs in the mid teens and lows of 10 and the noise completely disappeared (and I was listening), so I don’t mess with it and see what happens before the powertrain warranty runs out in another two years. This is also the first car that does not burn or leak any oil! My old 5.0s burned a half a litre in three thousand miles, the Corvette LT1 engine leaked so much oil you could see the slick from under the car from satellite imagery. This engine is the best yet! This is the best car yet and almost perfect except for that stupid clatter in the cold that apparantly is normal with the Honda sixes. So I bought right when I gave up on the Roadmaster. Thank God I didn’t get a Hyundai Elantra as planned, and got the cheapest stripper Mustang (and streatched for that) and ended up with the fastest car I ever owned, faster to 60, faster to the quarter and the highest top speed at 157mph (with the speed governors turned off and standing on the pedal till there ain’t anymore which is rare as most chicken out before true top speed ). This model is now discontinued and replaced with a slower turbo 4 and especially on 87 gas. They claimed it was marginally faster to make that version more popular as they discontinued the Cyclone 6 and underrated my version on 87 gas but the reality is that the six is faster with 10 mph more at the top end. Anyway that is my long term review of the old Mustang daily driver. I may still rock the Corvette C8 if things go quiet around here - but things keep going so I maybe stuck with this Mustang for a while yet. I’m a diehard V8 guy and this was my first non-V8 car, but this one has won over my heart. Who would have ever thought.....




Goodnight.....




https://youtu.be/AwtJb61hpvo
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2020 7:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Disseminating an idea is like the outbreak of a virus and a pandemic is the goal. So once again my life experience and interest in “sexy” or exotic outbreaks sets the strategy. Mass panic and angst is success! I’m patient zero or Typhoid Marry for this advocacy.....


In addition to the current stuff we do at the UN we will move more into contacting delegates of member nations and disseminate our advocacy. Even if it seems pointless it is nevertheless disseminating the idea like we did with His Holiness Pope Francis and the Kingdom of Bhutan. For the masses we will be doing more in social media starting with a Facebook page and Instagram account. I don’t care about the traffic for the movie or TV series or any of the social accounts. What I want is to be ready when we get interest so we can ramp things up with no lag impeding the virulent dissemination of my ideas. So all media was saved for this and fresh for folk when the idea takes off!



What else?



Sam promoting FOFSTOCK!


I continue to post more videos and right now that is FOFSTOCK. One video shows Shane taking a “tour” of FOFSTOCK which has never really been seen before. But whatever it is there on YouTube for any interested.



FOFSTOCK command center L-R: Tabitha, Sam, Maurice, Shaun Kelly and DJ Scootz!


As for Covid19? I swore off Starbucks and especially in the mall yesterday but will go there today to see the Apple Store closed. Yes all Apple Stores outside China are supposedly closed today.....



Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/DxCCtDDKwCk



Instagram: positivemandatefor


Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/Positive-Mandate-for-Humanity-108255954134782/
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Sun Mar 15, 2020 7:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Everything is grinding to a halt because of Covi19.



Except here!



Ok, first up was the Covid19 statement every president or CEO was putting out in the last couple of days. I finally got around to it Saturday night. I had a different statement planned that mentioned that while we had to resort to medieval methods of handling spread, vaccines were in the making with the isolation and growth of the virus happening first here in Toronto at a level 3 bio-facility here at the University of Toronto. But that seemed a bit patriotic given our international membership. Even the Ebola vaccine was mostly a Canadian thing at the level 4 bio lab in Winnipeg. That vaccine development is a good read and almost sci-fi with an accidental needle prick with Ebola around the world and then testing it in combat so to speak which gave it a head start as there were no adverse effects to it. Probably will happen with Covid19 to get around the regs - by testing in combat.


https://iaij.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1033


We have more videos on YouTube - like up to 25 now. More Instagram accounts started for the positive mandate, FOF records, FOF, and IAIJ. Better late than never I guess.....



Basically I’m doing this now!


That global citizen website needs a home page and I’ll get on it today. But first is that conference call with my gang on Sunday to see what is going on in the world and then foraging for supplies again and then back home. Apple closed its store in my local mall and when I checked it out I expected to see it closed down with a sign on the doors (huge swinging walls of glass that is). But instead the lights were on with Apple employees inside and three outside so I went up to one and asked why they didn’t truly close up and leave a note. The man said: “That’s not how we do business”. So there you go.....



Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/ObMyPgYEbQk
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 12:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well NOW the fun begins.....



I just came back from some last minute grocery shopping at 1:00am! The family should be mostly stocked up for whatever happens at this point. Where I live they are more cautious and closing everything down fast. So there are many models and strategies out there but ours is to close everything down before the virus really takes off – so we shall see how this plays out.



I know I said Covid19 was more of a bother than an exciting apocalyptic nightmare and I still do, but the human designs paying out here are making it rather interesting. But it’s still a bother of sorts because it is not just about you like with SARS but more about aging parents and other dependents you have to look out or. So you look out for them and that is what I was doing over the weekend. The global citizen website is up but looks like the positive mandate sites as I just ported over the files and changed the names – but it is a website now. I started giving all those Instagram accounts some content and will have the handles up shortly.



What else.....



Buttonz!


I uploaded another video to the “FOF Records Inc.” channel. This one has Buttonz recording music in my car because she was living on the street and homeless at the time. Yes the experiment had me signing recording contracts and making music and pressing CDs for homeless people! Where else would you find this kind of activity! But it’s up there and check it out if you have a lot of time on your hands.



Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/eXgatGjaMeQ
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Tue Mar 17, 2020 8:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I’ll do a multi part post today.



First is the Covid19 thing. State of emergency declared where I live. Yesterday was the “suggestion” that bars and restaurants and theaters close or face fines. Now they don’t have to suggest anymore. All this would probably have been done sooner but all this is in essence “crowd control” and humans can only take so much change at once. So you get the “soft touch” at break neck speed. The public is now conditioned to accept massive intrusions on their civil liberties but the difference is that this is for public health and not some political motivation. If the crowd goes along with it in this case it is a good thing. As a journalist I’ll do my usual quick recon of the area but I would suggests the rest of you just go to work and home. Medical supplies like disinfectant and masks go to the government now. I still say if you are out and about the good old Lysol works but realize you have to spray your hands and leave it on as you do things as it takes about 10 minutes for Lysol to kill Covid19. So if you work with the public and you constantly spray your hands with Lysol you end up with this film constantly replenished attacking and breaking down the virus. For a real short deal Purel is marginal at 60 percent alcohol but 70 percent isopropyl in a small pump is better but good luck finding that now. 99 percent isopropyl alcohol is not as good as 70 percent for reasons that would take too long here but I guess you could punch up the pump to the ideal of 75 percent if you know what you are doing. But whatever, I have all of that and more powerful stuff in the car as I go along. But at this point Lysol seems to be the best alternative that works in the field where there is no water. Clorox also works but with Lysol you can do it forever without your skin breaking down.






Trials have already begun on a vaccine. Me thinks they will circumvent the regs to make it available faster - just a premonition.



Other stuff.....



Everyone is using streaming services so the variety show is in review limbo at Amazon. So I may just throw it up on YouTube instead. In the meantime I uploaded the making of the Hyperventilation music video yesterday. This was available on our site in a compressed and crappy WMV file but now out there in full resolution. So you can watch that if you need a break. But if you need to feel the rush of the pandemic I suggest The Andromeda Strain.



Anyway I’m gone to look at some cars while I can. There is a morbid fascination of seeing stores in a mall shut down one by one but I don’t recommend you go there now. Here is how I did it yesterday. Only use the sliding automatic doors, don’t touch anything and stay away from others and don’t walk behind anyone. Don’t buy anything and then get out of there and hose down hands with disinfectant. That is a trip to the mall yesterday. But with the food courts gone I wonder what that is like. But that is the journalist in me. Now I would only go in there with an N95 mask tucked and hidden on your person now as a security blanket (but soon as a necessity). Oh yeh: you don’t have one, so stay away! Oh yes: While I was there this is guy totally lost it in the mall babbling to himself and becoming incoherent - everyone just ignored him. Usually they call security - I just found the reaction interesting.



Later.....





Update: Don’t bother going to the malls as 90% of stores are closed. My Starbucks is closing now and not reopening till April if that. Here are some photos of the food court with tables closing it up. I told a group of retired folk that walk around there to walk outside as it’s not safe there anymore. I should have recommended the green belts but the opportunity passed. I told them it came from the heart. It is upsetting to people to have their routine, their reality lost to circumstances, but shit happens. Shit is going down.....








(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/af7KHl2w7EU


https://youtu.be/D2d_8OtWGvY
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2020 8:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Everything is closing down.....



All those people who were bitching about what to do about their kids after March Break when they had to go back to work - had the decision made for them - they are all stuck at home! Except for me who still must work, so life hasn’t changed all that much for me, but has around me. No point going to the mall for a mocha as Starbucks is closed - but you know what - there probably are so few people there it may still be fine for a quick recon and maybe a few more pics of all the closed stores with signs on the window.



Even with everything shut down you should see maybe 3000 - 8000 reported cases in Canada in the next 10 days before things level off. If we waited the number goes up exponentially. What happens in the States is less concerning now that the border is being tightened up. We could be squeaking through this with policies that were overwhelming to some, but in the end barely adequate. We shall see and in days - not weeks or months.



Who will get it?



The real question is do we vaccinate or not to get herd immunity. Herd immunity is when a majority of the population get the plague and then are immune so they actually protect those without immunity as they don’t catch the virus and incubate it and spread it around. Achieving herd immunity by natural means or “taking it on the chin” is a Medieval idea with medieval consequences: “Bring out your dead!” It also raises infections above health care abilities which increases the death toll as you leave some patients to just die like in medieval times. That has physical and emotional and political consequences, so everyone seems to have ditched that model if they had a choice. Just flattening the curve also seems to have an unacceptable death rate so we are left with the swift, no holes barred fight with testing and tracing. The detractors will say that you just get the virus back when you relax quarantine. I would counter that it gives time to prepare for the eventual return of the virus. More healthcare workers and more ventilators. This gives you time to have a viable treatment for the worst cases which they seem to have already but need time for testing and time for nations to make the drugs and stockpile them. As for “herd immunity”, most flus only give you one year so what - another 2 percent dead next year - rinse and repeat? And it hasn’t been proven that there is immediate immunity as of right now anyway. A vaccine gives you “herd immunity” without all the death and can be changed year to year like the regular flu shot. On the strength of these arguments I personally endorse the most proactive strategy because it is the best one. As a side note I despise leaders that just want to lay down and let the virus do it’s thing with impunity. You are fucking around with life and death in your community! I would rather fight back and try to wipe it it off the face of the earth. Payback is always sweet - but that is just me.....





Lots of gallows humour about the virus, one of many ways to deal with this.....







Goodnight....





https://youtu.be/GU0d8kpybVg
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2020 10:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think most people are reaching their sanity limits so this will be a Covid19 free zone today.....




Pony Logo makes its appearance!



First of all something strange happened on Tuesday night I believe. I was going home and as the hood warmed up I saw a pony logo on my Mustang:




Pony logo stamping under the hood!


Yes the engineers stamped a pony in an oval underneath the hood skin and if the conditions are right it shows through on the hood. They actually did this deliberately when they totally redesigned the car in 2015 – so this was just a cool little nugget form the designers and engineers at Ford!




2Rude!



2Rude and Kaleb Simmonds!


Next up is 2Rude and Kaleb Simmonds at FOFSTOCK. They went on with Jelleestone and were not officially listed performers but I will put their performance on YouTube for all to see. I had multi-cams on them so here is a trick editors do (especially if they shot the footage themselves). So for the most part you get the stage footage I shot personally, but when I made a boo boo like cutting or dropping a performer out of frame, jiggling the camera after a pan at the crowd, then I cut to the wide angle distant shot of the stage. If done well everyone thinks “hum - that was well shot” when I actually had all sorts of crap going on. Actually that performance was a good one and both hail from the East Coast.




Emily Smith


Finally, I’ll offer up a sleepy, tired, but lovely acapella song by our own Emily Smith. We were in the studio testing cameras and audio levels for Gianna before we taped The Fortress Variety Show. We were almost done and instead of having her mouth the next segment of the show I thought it would be easier for her to just sing a song as she knows how to sing. So she thought about it for a moment and started singing me a song.



Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/5R3UybMXI0E


https://youtu.be/2H6ZbsLF96I
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2020 8:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A bit off track now.....



I was lamenting to one of our directors that we had a good run in the end with everything we did. She poo pooed my negativity which was fair when you evaluated our position and strategy. But where do we go from here?



The Fates!


Well the answer is that things are hard for me when people are at their normal bigoted/xenophobic best in normal times. With Covid 19 all this has changed and there is opportunity for those previously shut out! You just have to be resourceful enough to take advantage of the situation.....



I was so totally disconnected from normal society - especially in my youth - that you have eyes that can see all as you look at humanity from the outside. This puts you outside the norm. You can evaluate and make suggestions that others would never think of because they are still in humanity’s bubble and take many things for granted. They probably think there is only one way to think and are locked in there.


I now kind of see why fringe groups took me in and made me one of their own. Way back in the day you would look at me in one group and think “What the hell is that brown guy doing there?” “Look - he’s chumming around with everyone - and look at that! Women there are flirting with him! Now I’ve seen everything!” So I was the “kid with red hair” and some would tell me plainly that I was the only one from my group (brown/black guys) that they would give any consideration to. It wasn’t that antiseptic a speech, but they let me know I was one of them. I needed that personally, but the head people also took me under their wing teaching me how society works, how laws are made and enforced and so on. I the end I actually did a bit of lobbying for them at the federal level.


All those old men that showed me how things were, but just did that. To go that further step was to show how things are and how things are going to be, which I guessed was my purview or they would never have bothered with me in the first place - as they so often told me. They are all dead now so it is all on me now. But yes, I had my own ideas and less than three years later I started Fortress of Freedom and IAIJ. My ideas and my way - and so far we had a very good run!





But now things have fallen apart around the world and the world is yours if you seize the opportunity and make the plays you were previously shut out of. Strategy can change in a few months now just as it has. My mental sphere hasn’t change since I was born. I am disconnected for human society and can see all, that is how you do it.....



Goodnight.....





(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/LNRBt34gORU
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 11:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This weekend is all about sleep.



I had a hard time sleeping this week and it’s catching up on me. I was making uncharacteristic mistakes which is what happens. So I have to force myself to sleep.



Not an easy task these days. IAIJ is not a news agency but an association and my members tell me what life is like in some of the hot zones and you know them and wonder how they will fair in the end. Some people can compartmentalize and move on. When someone in the UK says they are ok with 20,000 deaths - just think about that for a moment. That’s 20,000 people each just like you - gone in a matter of weeks! If you hold public office you have to do this to keep your sanity. You just say what you have to say, do what you have to do, and look “stone faced” in front of the cameras. Some of the lessor bureaucrats can start to emotionally break down on stage. They have kept their humanity because it is not nessesary for their job. They don’t have to turn humans into widgets like the others have to.



So all his plus my own family worries on top can add up and conspire to start having an effect on you and you need a break and recharge. So that happens this weekend. I still want to be a human and be compassionate. So even though that adds to the stress in your life, I will keep that and deal with the other stuff like lack of sleep. It’s just tough to constantly wonder if the people in your life are still going to be alive a month down the road or even two months down the road. Will I be around next month or two? Nothing is for sure especially at my age.



And the chances of you getting Covid19 are exactly that - chance and that means probabilities. So you get bad luck in that you get laid off from work because the store was closed by the government because of Covid19. But that bad luck with the job could have prevented you from catching and dying of the virus because you were more home bound now than before. So you see how small amounts of bad luck can save you from the ultimate bad luck of winning the “coronavirus jackpot”.



So take those slings and arrows that come your way during this crisis and remember it just makes the probability of hitting the Covid19 bell ringer that much more remote. This is a sneaky bug in that the first few days it’s like a common cold, then after day five - watch out! - the Angel of Death may be paying you a visit.....



Worried about paying bills? Worried about what happened at work? That is, if you are still working? Well how about mounds of cropses filling up hockey areas in you neighborhood. Thirty or forty corpses stuffed into a refrigerated 5 ton truck parked down the street. Crematoriums working 24/7 and never catching up. That’s what is happening in some parts of the world right now! And one of those corpses could be you.....



Here is one example of bad luck this morning: I took off for a nocturnal drive around town as gas’s is super cheap now. On my way back was a dip in the road filled with salt water and then 300 feet of pure rock salt after that, and just after I washed the car! I sprayed it away at the “do it yourself” car wash. Then as I drove home I ran over a squirrel with squirrel guts all over the underside of the car. It’s all good folks. I’ve given up keeping the car clean. Your not 6 underground and that’s all that matters.



It kind of puts things in your life in perspective. You don’t worry about things like you used to. Why worry about things at work when all of you maybe out of your jobs due to a government order by the end of the week? I think we are currently at 20% unemployment - when was the last time you saw that! Your car needs a brake job - it can wait as long as it runs - just go ahead and listen to the rivets grind into the discs. It’s all groovy cause your still alive. Yes it has come to that.....



Slash!


Well I can’t sign off with that last paragraph. So I finally edited Shane and Kevin’s interview with Slash from Velvet Revolver / Guns n Roses fame. That will be up on YouTube shortly in full resolution. That was from 2011 and they did get to meet him and ask questions. In the end Shane actually got to send in his demo to be a member of the band and Kevin got to record a birthday wish for this little girl who called me “uncle mowis”. Anyway I hope some of you enjoy the clip.



Slash with Kevin and Shane!





Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/nHDEg-JOo18
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 10:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

After a week of truly rotten bad luck I get this today, and on Saturday no less:



Laura wrote:
The Fortress Variety Show on Amazon Prime!





By Laura Tommasone - FOF Inc. / FOF Entertainment Inc.











The Fortress of Freedom Corporation and FOF Entertainment Inc. are excited to announce that The Fortress Variety Show has been accepted by Amazon Prime Video, placed in their catalogue and is now available to the public. The series will be available for sale, rent and stream.







Please note that this is only for the U.S.A and Great Britain market at present and it is not known if it is in the Canadian market yet. Eventually this series should also appear in Germany and Japan when we get the foreign subtitles done.



https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0867C49T2/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=The+Fortress+Variety+Show&qid=1584847194&sr=8-1



More news as it becomes available.






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




This is not necessarily good luck as I contacted one of the Amazon personnel and asked if they could get the show on and they said they would try. Usually they don’t do it on the weekend so I may owe someone there for doing this on their own time – Thanks!



Getting this one on Prime Video means I have it all up now. It is done for The Experiment and the Positive Mandate along with the two movies - Bam! They even added the new "Prime Video Explorer" feature so you can scroll through a person’s name to find out all the Prime shows connected to that name – cool! Now I have to take care of some other stuff. Anyway, streaming platforms are doing so well that Netflix had to cut bandwidth to SD in some countries because of the impact on self-isolation because of Covid 19. How this works for us remains to be seen, but now it is all out there. The ideas, concepts and philosophy are being disseminated. We can get on more platforms but we go to the monetized ones first. TV is the best way to distribute our ideas to the masses so we are still in the game!




But I have to get more sleep now.


Catch up on sleep is my mantra now…..



Goodnight…..
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Maurice Ali



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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 6:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So I did catch up on sleep this weekend.....



It does not change your perspective on the world - which is - that it sucks! It is amazing how much you can do and how efficient you can be in your own bubble I was in prior to the Covid 19 drama. You were a machine, always right; and then add some family members with their frailties and mental dramas and all that invincibility goes out the friggin window! So the weekend and especially Sunday was sort of normal.


Sunday things got sort of normal for a change . I even watched “The Walking Dead” which was once the number one show on TV. They even aired an episode called “The Talking Dead” which brings in cast members to discuss the show. It was cancelled last week as you can’t take chances flying around anymore and also no studio audiences. But they were on last night in what looked like a taped Skype show - where there is a will there is a way! So people are adapting to this is new reality of social isolation. I’ll leave it there for now as I don’t want to get too down on the whole thing. But just realize that last month I was in New York with no confirmed cases bitching about not getting to speak at the UN - and now New York is the epicentre of Covid 19 in the States and New York is now the number five hotspot in the world. And all in little more than a month! Closing the borders is not the sole answer. They did that in Israel and have hundreds of cases there now! But enough of this as it just depresses you or ramps up the paranoia in your mind.




So Saturday our last show on my editor called “The Fortress Variety Show” got on Amazon Prime Video. Note that this is only in the US and UK. The only people who will see this in Canada are those with American VPNs. The reason is the restriction by the CRTC about non-Canadian programming impacting on Canadian programming - even though our shows are all Canadian! The situation is screwed up and basically closed to small indie producers. It’s always been that way but I got through with threats and law suits, but that only works for so long.





To get some content into Canada I started the “FOF Records Inc.” channel on YouTube that has all of the music videos and performances at FOFSTOCK and clips taken from the shows. There is probably over thirty videos on there now so if interested check them out. But I deal in reality. The US and UK are a 400 million English speaking market and Canada is 10 million or so. It is incredibly easy to access those 400 million and incredibly difficult to access that 10 million in Canada. Apart from cast members, the only people who came out to the movie premiere at the Royal Cinema were people who saw the ad in Now magazine or who heard the radio ads. And that set the tone for distribution going forward.





So that is why we are doing things the way they are being done. I hope this answers most questions about why we don’t exist in Canada. We did get two shows on the air with two of the largest networks in Canada. Under 10 people I knew watched and congratulated me on the first show. I got one CD sale from people watching the two shows, and it was one of the hardest things I had to endure to get on TV with so little payback! But the play in the US and UK makes perfect sense with that huge market in eventual lockdown - we are sure to get an audience and more dissemination of the positive mandate! Anyway, enough of that as I have uploaded a clip of our own Donald “Boots” Brasseur from the show “The Life and Times of Donald “Boots” Brasseur”. Check it out on our YouTube channel as the guys is worth it. Just pretend I had nothing to do with it and you will probably enjoy it more.....


Funniest thing on the weekend was the Hotels.com ad during “The Walking Dead” that said “Stay Home” - that was a moment! That fact is they bought all the ad spots before the crisis and this was their way of dealing with it. Incredibly funny - now I have seen everything!


Goodnight.....





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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2020 8:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Miscellaneous ramblings.....


First of all I would like to say that you will quickly get used to all the restrictions, it’s just jarring when it first happens, but you all get used to them and learn to function within them. So why the lockdown now? Because we are starting to get community transmission! Because we now don’t have a way to trace these carriers and so you have to make public policy and assume anyone could have the virus. That means social distancing and closure of non-essential business. Without immigration from outside, a couple of weeks should ferret out the previously untraceable carriers and allow for health officials to get back to tracing and isolation. That usually won’t happen so you lock down until the numbers really drop and then slowly let life get back to normal with priority on jobs and the economy. Concerts and stuff like that are last on the list!



Take the “devil may care” attitude politically and you risk redefining your society and community in a negative way that can linger for generations. This also has a carry over effect to youngsters and young adults - so be careful or you made be breeding a more heartless and uncaring society - this is what is really is at stake here. So everyone gives the lockdown a go for at least a few weeks, if only to say that as a community we tried our best. This is what most countries are now doing. What happens after that first lockdown is when things get interesting. I’ll leave it there for now but this is more about what our society is all about more than anything else and so far the doves are winning.


As for me we now have our IMDB page for the Fortress Variety Show! I’ll add some more photos and do one last update for the cast and crew and leave it at that. We also got our first review from this guy who rates the so called “junk” shows in the back catalogue of Amazon Prime. Most get the three stars like what we got but some get an extra half a star and some get 2.5 stars so it is vetted. But I’ll take the three out of five stars!






I have the first really rough draft of our UN report and we just keep chugging along. It was good though to get all the shows out there. Everyone gets their three minutes of fame. And I have delivered on my promises to all of them back in the day - even if some have changed their minds over the years, the deal was made back in the day and they were all adults. I made good on all my promises - and that responsibility is now off my shoulders.....



Goodnight....





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Maurice Ali



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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2020 9:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote




https://m.imdb.com/title/tt12009762/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0


Well I finally finished up our IMDB article on “The Fortress Variety Show”, if I missed anyone just hit me up and I’ll add you in! Man what a relief to get everyone and everything out there on TV. And it’s strange to say that but this is reality in 2020, streaming services are TV. We did get two shows on the two largest networks in Canada back in the day, so all our material is capable in quality and performances. But the media landscape has changed and you have to adapt.



Having said all that, I still would not mind some traditional TV broadcast before that disappears - but that is just my fetish.....



What else?



Have you ever wondered who was behind - or more accurately - inside those hazmat suits you see more and more of during our present plague? Well I did and it was a shock! You figure it would be these middle aged men - but no - I saw a decent group of attractive women popping out of those spacesuits today! That’s how I describe it as an old man today, but back in my younger bug chasing days this would have been an epic revelation and I would have thought or said: “You figure it would be these middle aged men - but no - I saw a decent group of hot chicks stripping out of those spacesuits today! I never figured on having a supermodel stripping out of level 1 - 2 hazmat suit and flicking their long hair in air just like a super model; and they are wearing the tightest revealing jeans under there - who would have ever thought! But it happened! You think of the possibilities, as one gives you “the eye” - so after a day chasing bugs you can now go home to some hot hazmat ass!” That was probably how I would have looked at this situation back in the day but that was back then and I would never have entertained such thoughts now as a respectable old geezer like I am today.....



Goodnight.....





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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2020 9:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There is too much going on – so where do I start…..



In times like these when you are dealing with a pandemic of virtually apocalyptic proportions you have to deal with crowd control! It’s all about crowd control from the top down. Until now every aspect of society was just going through the motions, basically running under its own steam as usual day after day. The only problems were the minor individual ones that everyone concentrated on. Throw a pandemic into the mix and it all turns on its head and becomes crowd control. The economy crashes, 20% unemployment, pandemic worries and the loss of civil liberties one by one as a daily occurrence. Can it still be business as usual in terms of businesses – of course not!



Right now where I live the only businesses supposed to be open are essential services. Of course everyone considers their services as essential but the government may have other ideas. As a manager or owner or CEO of a business what are you to do? First thing I was taught in business school (Ryerson Business School) was that you switch from individual based management to crowd based management. You do this because in times like this where the whole society is changing, what was a problem yesterday is not a problem today. An example: So yesterday you were totally concerned about Joe Blow’s 20% drop in productivity; come to work today and one of your staff has tested positive for Covid 19 and everyone wants to leave and go home – Now you have a problem! The Joe Blow problem from yesterday is no problem at all anymore, and today it does not even register on the radar as you face a possible mutiny of everyone on your payroll. But of course you planned on this event and have procedures to follow – right? The fact is during a crisis like we have now you have to be planning things well before they happen – action and not reaction. You turn a blind eye to the individual problems and just let those ride and concentrate on keeping the company up and running.



That is now the most important thing if you are an essential service, and that is keeping the employees coming into work every day and keeping that essential service functioning. The reality is that when essential services stop working, society starts to crumple away and fail and then the anarchists and criminal elements start to take over. What happens if hospital staff consider their jobs are too risky and walk off the job en masse? When news of that hits the air waves and internet - everyone starts panicking. What if the police do the same – looting and all sorts of lawlessness! It just goes down the line from one essential service to another. What if the gas stations run out of petrol? What if the grocery stores run out of food and close down. What if the power starts to go out because all the staff have bolted? You get the idea. The prime thing is to keep everyone working and the business functioning - that is your priority and everything else is as significant as a pimple on your bum.



During a crisis everyone is overworked and sleep deprived and stressed out. Everyone will start to make mistakes including you. Being the nice guy and overlooking your staff’s mistakes at this time will work for you when you screw up (and don’t think that you will not)! They will give you the same leeway you gave them and this will hold you in good stead when a major crisis arises like your first positive employee with Covid 19 and then the loss of employees that have to isolate. This is not the time to keep picking on employees - they are talking about you and the others in management as they worry about things, and criticizing and disciplining fellow employees at this time just sows the seeds of a future mutiny when the next crisis on the job happens. As a manager you are now in a crises situation and the usual rules and methods no longer work, let things go, be the nice boss and concentrate on the big picture and what to do when the inevitable does happen – ahead of time…..



As an employee, realize that if you call in sick just because you are afraid, or even quit because you are afraid, you may be contributing to the erosion of services in your community and adding to the uncertainty in your society. People need to know that the medical system is there if they get sick, that the police are there to protect them, that all essential services are there if they need them. So if you walk off the job, you are helping to erode or destroy your society or community. After I was quarantined from SARS 17 years ago I kept working at ground zero until the threat was gone – why – because of that moral imperative that if people left their jobs because they were afraid, you are going to have all hell break loose! So I stayed just like everyone else and did my job! Then when the crises is over you can look yourself in the mirror with no regrets.



Well that’s a bit of a ramble for today. Things are going to get worse where I am. The police are even parking empty cruisers in obvious spots just to keep up the façade that they are everywhere (like at a plaza near my home). They are even parking those city bylaw vehicles all over the place as a reminder for people to follow those every tightening losses of civil liberties – or else. Like I said – it’s all crowd control now…..




Goodnight….





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