Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

powell, they mentioned it at the SOCAN AGM of which we are a voting member - and now he did it:

[Maurice Ali]

Two things today.....








First it that AI has ruined music along with streaming services. Copyright means nothing anymore - especially to small time artists. Even copyright protection issued in the States from AI has been overturned - probably to keep AI competitive with other countries AI as it needs it (the copyrighted stuff) for "learning" (another word for theft).



Even funnier is musicians who create AI helped songs now find they can't download the songs they helped create. AI owns them now - I'm not going to say anything here but others have called them suckers. I just find the whole situation sad.



You will never see these again - Copyrights on right and CMRRA on left!


Count me in as one of the suckers who actually thought copyright meant something. Back in 2004 I would actually pay 50 bucks for a copyright issued from the Canadian Government, how stupid was that! I was doing it for each issue of The Fortress and the first albums. All worthless now. CMMRA was a waste of time (where artists would buy a license to use your songs) - all practically gone now. I should check and see if we are still there in the files.



When 100 percent AI can be monetized at places like SOCAN or BMI or ASCAP, music will be worthless for real musicians. Maybe, maybe, well known artists will get one large check when they officially hand over their voice and image to AI and the record labels for play and purchases and even holographic performances. Maybe live still works as a cottage industry for human musicians, but royalties for musicians are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.



This all makes me glad I started the musical advocate we call FOFSTOCK. First a music festival open to all for free expression of all types of music - and now the same for advocacy. How many of these orgs are out there? How many have you heard pitching for the common musician and their concerns? Anyway, the United Nations is looking at us right now and probably some questions in January. We shall see how that goes.




How many people get Christmas Cards from the broadcast captioning folk - gone now!



Whole industries in media are now gone due to technology. I used to get a signed Christmas card from Broadcast Captioning Services on Laird drive in Toronto. They probably just closed as there are references still to the website but the website is gone - just like Creative Post that I talked about weeks ago. They are all gone now But we at FOF are still here.




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/75outA5CTEQ?si=VaPBIaYxwbEcCP3q

[Maurice Ali]

A surprise for Saturday.....



After lamenting my old Canon XHA1 dying on me, I checked Kijiji and found someone selling the same camera and I put an offer of 150 bucks as this was the parts price for that camcorder. I figured they would all end up like mine sooner than later, so that was bid. They agreed but would check to see if it powered on. It did, so I drove to their neighbourhood to pick it up. These purchases are a gamble, but at 150 bucks it was an amount I could gamble on.




New camcorder just like the old one but this one works!


The camcorder looked ok and did power on and the main parts worked. Later at home I confirmed everything worked! That is a steal of a deal but remember that all these units will fail like my well kept camcorder - it's just a matter of time.




The only thing wrong was the broken strap mount on the lower front of the body!



For now the only issue was that the camera strap broke one of the mounting points on the tape side of the camcorder. That was it - it came with two batteries and the power cable. So I'll swag over the plate, filter, and such to the new camcorder. I'll also pull out that Rode NTG3 shotgun microphone out of the blimp we never used and put the camcorder back in circulation!




150 bucks - a steal of a deal (it retailed for 6,000 when new) as long as it does not break on me.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

The Sony in the back with the external hard drive attached!



So far so good with the 150 buck Canon camcorder. I have tested everything and it all works! All that is left is data transfer via the firewire cable. My old Sony Professional PD170 (that put both TV shows on the air at Global and CTV) shoot to miniDV tape but also can shoot to a hard drive or SSD. The "pro-sumer" version of that camcorder can't as it's crippled. Right now these cameras are still in demand with the skate board crowd that admired the cameras in old school skate boarding videos from the OG skateboarding greats. They are still bitching about using tapes, but don't know what I have! So this old SD camcorder and the remote hard drive are actually worth something - but I'm not selling it as I can still get retro video looks without using tape! It will also work on the 150 buck Canon if the firewire port works. I'll find out later.




Closeup of the external drive - it's a Sony!



Anyway, with a working camcorder, half of the tapes I have stored away can still be accessed with the camera while before they were just junk. That is one of the biggest reasons for buying the thing.




Sandra with my old JVC camcorder that I tested today and still works!


That was video and of course I now added my dad's Pentax Spotmatic to the mix of old film cameras and I'll test shoot film in that and the Nikon F4 and see what happens.




Dissasembled blimp with busted ribber and replacements!



I also pulled out a shotgun microphone out of our overhead pole blimp mic setup. The blimp also had a large furry "cat" on it so when I disassembled the thing I was shocked to see the mic flapping around inside as the rubber suspension system had dried out and rubber crumbled away! I had a bag of rubber bands and that replacement actually worked! So I'll run a little Vaseline on the elastic bands and the suspension should properly work now and assemble it back together and keep going.



The finished repairs to the shotgun mount in the blimp!



I may also buy a cheap shotgun microphone on Kajiji so we shall see what there.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

Another new week awaits.



I made the mistake of clicking on another of those "retirement videos. Dude says check out the average life expectancy and plan accordingly. For where he lived it was 85. I checked Canada and it was 80 - so 14 years more to live - only 14! The States was worse - 75 - only 9 years to live?



You get into this funk that it's over - life is disappearing before your eyes. The kids have it better - they bitch about not being able to buy a house - but they will live to 130 if AI doesn't kill us all - that's what I was told at the UN. And remember kids - I also couldn't afford to buy a house, we got in during the crash of the 1990s and then dealt with crippling mortgage rates of 12.5 first and 17 second! Don't get me started on that!



I may live longer than the average but I might be losing my mind by then. So say 80 as an active thinking human. It's still just 14 years! Some of the simple calculations don't bother you as much. I'll be in this old house I live in but probably move into my dad's house and sell this house. That is the first thing the retirement people drill into your head. Then sell those hobbies. So the collectible car I always wanted is gone as the advocacy is where it's at. Things like that have been settled. But reality checks always put you in this nihilistic funk.....



They say the majority of activity on popular social media now is bots now - keeping the humans there to sell advertising. You don't have to worry about that here. No AI is coming to some old backward website. I'm not some AI with extra bad punctuation. The real me and what is that worth? Not much it seems.....




The new/old Canon HD camcorder!



The weekend was ok I guess. I'll reconfigure the Canon camcorder stuff and put it all away. I may even just mash up all the Canon accessories into one bag and be done with it. The Kijiji shotgun mic thing fell flat (no reply), but I might check out a cheap old throwback shotgun mic at Vjstek. The problem here is that it's downtown and it's impossible to drive there. But I may give it a try "just for kicks" and then end all this photography and video equipment buying stuff. It is nothing but shooting video after today.....




The Portkeys monitor on the Canon Camcorder!




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/wk-9Tt4W1_s?si=9qabpd299SD-Oq6A

[Maurice Ali]

The days are long.....



Ok, the old man funk is over. Back to the usual. At least yours truly is brave enough to totally go after driving everyone away from this website - Ha!



Ha, whatever women may have had the slightest of interest in you - you - drive them and their attention away with old man talk and then obsess over ancient equipment that should go in the trash. But remember, the bulk of the people that come here don't like me anyway. They are just keeping an eye on me - and that is truer than you think.



Whatever, I'm a totally straight male and trust me, taking advantage of all kinds of women who passed through the doors of FOF would have totally destroyed the organization and ultimately the advocacy. It's better to destroy interest before it comes to your door.



So yes I am old. I was ripped just a few weeks ago but I'm currently in operation "get fat" as I'm on the lower end of ideal weight now - or maybe the upper end if you surf around. I just want to see that I have variable weight and that being on the heavier end is better as you get older - or so they say. All that should turn all of you off.



As for antiseptic advocacy - nothing really will happen until December and WSIS+20. That should drive even more away for awhile - Ha!



For remaining people here, on Monday I drove down to Vistek to get a deal on a proper shotgun microphone for the Sony SD camcorder. Went all the way downtown during rush hours as the website says it's on sale as overstock. Get there and they say it is all gone! Crap! So back home I go. But this AV shop near me had the same microphone but sixty bucks more. I go there and pitch the "price match" idea as it still has the cheap price and that it is in stock at Vistek's website. They say "no way" they can match that price. They offer 10 bucks off - I countered with another five bucks off to seal the deal - they reiterated 10 bucks off - sold!



So the Sony has its shotgun microphone. Next was this Kijiji order I gave up on and now the dude still wants to go through with it. Fine I'll put that in the blimp I just repaired. I get to his place after 9:00pm and the dude is so chill but wants to get out fast at 9:00. The kid evidently wants to club on a Monday I suspect. Then this older middle aged White guy shows up with a brand new mic in the box with all the accessories - so much for this idea of the young Black man going out clubbing. I pay the man and walk back to my car in the rain with gale force winds at my back.




This is an early photo of what the pistol grip section in a blimp looks like!



All the microphones are now installed and both boom pole microphones now have mic's, so it is all good to go! I even put all the camcorder stuff away and tidied the studio and office up. That should be it folks!



Tuesday has me finally picking up the glasses I broke on the UN trip - yes it took that long! I also will see what happened to the roll of medium format film they promised me for Monday. Interesting to see if that old camera still works.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

As long as I have a "sliver's chance" of advancing the advocacy - I can't turn things down and turn away.....



I was thinking yesterday - why am I trying to update the Fortress Experiment movie? Why was I buying expensive upgrades for the video when I should be saving money for retirement? One reason is that my financial position at the moment should not have me end up panhandling on Yonge Street. Really, what am I supposed to do when I have gone further than almost anyone else trying to do what I want to do? Think hard, how many people do you know doing what I am doing right now. With actual vision of a better world and other pragmatic ideas and plans to make it happen. Each part can advance on its own if you don't get all of it.



Me turning things down and scurrying away to supposed safety of retirement is a coward's end. Sure things are hard but you keep trying. The best thing about the last General Assembly is that you saw me reach my advocacy goals and at my age - it's still happening! A new form of advocacy and reaching higher levels at the UN System all at the same time (I pitched the Worldwide Vote twice to the Secretary General of the ITU at the United Nations on my birthday of all days in September). Actually sitting in at the General Assembly Hall in General Assembly with world leaders giving speeches - never did that before. So five weeks later I'm supposed to pack up things - give it all up - and save for retirement? No.....







https://iaij.com/IAIJ_Goals.wmv



For what it's worth I played it down the middle. No saving all my pennies for a future I may not live to see - like what happened to my best friend. Saved all his pennies and planned to retire comfortably while also owning a retirement home. He never made it to retirement and didn't get to admit himself to his own retirement home as I always mocked. I - on the other hand - spent money throughout while I also invested the rest, like in Toronto real estate. I didn't go on expensive trips and I didn't start a family though I did give marriage a try. So I just did what everyone in university said and rocked with the philosophy and trying to change the world, while everyone else laughed. I drive my second Mustang till it was 18 years old. Then drove my dad's Buick Roadmaster till it was 23 years old - all the money went to the orgs! They laughed when I said on network TV that I wanted to make a speech on the floor of the General Assembly. That wasn't scripted and I blurted it out just to give me this impossible goal I would never reach but keep me going. I reached that goal eleven years later! And every goal reached just made me make an even harder goal to replace it!



Like I said before, even if they mocked me in the past, if I closed shop now all those people would corner me at my house and beat the living shit out of me for being a coward, a fool, and an idiot! They would do it - like an old high school reunion.....



In other news:



I finally picked up the glasses I broke in New York in September. The lab never got around to developing my roll of medium format film, but called me later to say it was done. So I'll pick that up on Wednesday. Before I punched this post out, I found a replacement camera bag for the replacement Canon Camcorder and cleaned it up and swagged all its accessories into it, so now all my gear is organized. I looked at my two boom pole assemblies with admiration. Actually I should take a few pics of them to show you.....




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/T4Xf2Efb6_w?si=DSs879LGOZJ9ATiD

[Maurice Ali]

A busy day so a quickie.....




Yashica Mat-124



The Yashica Mat-124 works and produces photos like any other camera. So it was a steal at like 15 bucks or so.




This picture shows the full dynamic range - so a pass!



I'm ready to buy the tax software and submit the More Vision Inc. T2 to the CRA and avoid another thousand dollar fine I have to fight.




Usual pole assembly!



Oh, the photos of the boom microphones so here they are.




Blimp on a fixed studio mount!



That's about it for now folks.




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

No time! So for Friday morning:






Wake up and try to extract video from the replacement Canon to Avid Media Composer. The Firewire works with the computer and editor - this was the big question but the settings and I/O are glitchy.



Off to my dad's place for breakfast and watching drag racing videos and late night monologues with the family.




My Mustang beside my Roadmaster - with a Corvette LT1 motor!



Change the oil in the Mustang. This is at Mr. Lube and I asked them if forgoing the discount that they let me in the pit so I could spray some hard to get places with the rust proofing spray. They agree and down into the pit I go. I needed this as the middle part above the driveshaft in the tunnel is impossible to get at. The guy rolls back the netting and there I go spraying goo in there while he changes the oil up front. The metal there is like new, but the goo goes on eventually turning it black.



Go down to City Hall and pay off property taxes for the year. He tells me it's starts again in a few months and it never ends. I add that it does end when you die - but that is nothing to celebrate - the city employee laughs like a hyena!



Back home and fiddling with the Camcorder again. I thought it had a problem with recording all of a sudden, but it looks like it just doesn't like Panasonic tapes. The expensive Sony tapes and records and plays back those recordings perfectly. So I am happy again.....




All that before 11:30am



This is my life.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

If any of you were wondering why I found it so important to spend money on all kinds of stuff like microphones for boom poles we will probably never use - it is because I'm at the end of the line for equipment purchases.


With the camcorder and cinema camera in 4K I am probably good for a format for years and pushing my 80s, so for me that's it unless I finance for the kids taking over. With that in mind I decided to complete all the bits and pieces of video production that were not in stand-alone readiness. So I got the two extra microphones so every camcorder, camera and boom pole had a shotgun microphone and all that. I have a zoom recorder so all are good to go there, but I might upgrade that, but it's an upgrade and not a necessity so it can wait.



Like the guitars. After 20 years in the industry I am a musician over all the metrics. And every musician needs an instrument and mine is the guitar. However, with time and purchasing power running out, I decided to get all the guitar types I would ever need and I succeeded. I have bought nothing for months in terms of equipment - I am set. The music and me as a producer and all that is part of my legacy for when I'm gone and so the guitars stay.



The guitars and video equipment were these last extravagances for the orgs I had to tidy away.



Personally I always wanted a true sports car. With the spectre of the Corvette out of the picture I may - when I retire - finally put that 7.3 litre big block Godzilla motor in the Mustang as I lobbied for that for like two years and Ford performance actually made made it available. I was ostracized and eventually banished from the Mustang community but in the end I won. The Godzilla swap is a reality - this will be the correct outcome for the sports car legacy.



The realities of life - nobody lives forever and while some of my family are long lived - you can't count on that when planning important things. You do the best you can like I'm doing right now.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

Believe it or not we are dealing with decent snowfall today. So basically an in the house day!




The Sony in the back with the external hard drive attached!



I'm still fiddling with the old cameras. I put a tape in the old Sony PD170 and was surprised to see real constant shuttering on playback after recording. I should put an old tape in there and see what happens. With the Canon I had an occasional stutter or dropout but that could easily be explained as the tape deck hadn't been used in years and was not cleaned by me. The last time I tested it would record and play video of a decent length with no issues - this is concerning with the Sony. Of course I can record DV/HDV in the firewire hard drive which makes all the tape shenanigans a non-issue in the end. But the tape drive in the Sony is so uneventful, quiet and smooth, and yet you get that! Anyway, more testing and I'll test out the new microphone I bought on it just to make sure that works properly as it has a warrantee.




Closeup of the external drive - it's a Sony!



I'll also download the corporate tax software and in put my information and see what pops out at the other end. If it acceptable I'll buy five licenses and be done with that taxation issue for a year.



I'll also preen myself up and look all proper for Monday.



More advocacy planned in the middle of December but government issues in the States may put a crimp in that idea. All you can do is wait and see.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

I applied to attend the WSIS+20 Review event at United Nations Headquarters in mid-December. I was not notified but knew it was coming up and checked and had to apply by the 14th so we are good to go for applying. Getting it approved is another matter as nothing is guaranteed. While I applied, I also checked the box to speak - but good luck with that! We shall just have to wait and see.....







This meeting is mostly about internet governance with some side issues being resolved. It's important but always runs under the news radar.....



When you apply you still have to get a hotel and all that early - just in case. Waiting means no hotel or a long walk to events. This come every ten years and the last was in 2015. Anyway, all we can do is see what happens.




I downloaded the tax software and I am learning the procedure. It's always a pain to do new things but when done the rest are all the same!




I finished working over all the camcorders. The old ones will never be used but at least they still work. That new microphone for the Sony looks the part but the sound is shit! I am done buying stuff so I'm just gonna to live with it all and move on.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

It's Remembrance Day and on that day we remember our soldiers past and present.



Donald "Boots" Brasseur


At FOF and IAIJ it is Donald "Boots" Brasseur! He got into the Canadian Army by lying about his age, landed on the beaches of Normandy under sniper fire and was injured in the Falaise Gap. After the war he became a world class harmonica musician traveling the world in the last days of Vaudeville with his band "The Three Reeds". Click on the link below to see a documentary I made about his life!




Uncle George



For me two brothers on my mother's side living in New York were in WW2. I believe they were under General Douglas MacArthur and above is a photo I have of our "Uncle George" in those days (note the Sargent stripes).



We thank you all for your service!




Goodnight.....




https://youtu.be/ob6YtkVy6m0?si=A1TTucOAeR0I-q26