Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

I’m cheating today.....










Checking out the new 2020 mid-engine Corvette this morning! These are already sold but I had a chance to see them still in the wrap. If I was the owner it stays like that till I take delivery. Then I personally bucket wash it to check the bodywork out - but I’m funny that way.





From what little I can see - if I go Corvette, it’s C8 now! These cars are impossible to work on by a shade tree mechanic. There is almost a solid metal floor underneath. But hey, you know you only live once. One is just under and the other just over 100,000 dollars. I expect the price to drop to usual Corvette prices eventually.



Me thinks the small caliper is for traction control - nope parking brake!


That’s it for pictures, it does have two calipers on the rear wheel discs! Anyway, it’s somebody’s car now so I’ll leave it alone. But that is what I’m doing now. We may have some big news on the weekend - but I won’t get ahead of myself.....








Our office on Allstate Parkway has read us all the “riot act” and we now have to wear masks in the common areas..... But on the topic of Covid 19, when I heard Pink tested positive I didn’t know it hit her that hard and at one point she wondered if she was going to die. I just figured she had no symptoms. So when they say “mild symptoms”: You feel you are dying but the hospital won’t take you in. Asymptotic: The the worst flu you ever had in your life. I’ll go with that description.....

Later.....





https://youtu.be/RpZlS8Rmng4

[Maurice Ali]

This weekend I will keep things open as stuff could happen.



Having said that I will print some contracts after I post this and wait. People in the entertainment industry live a bohemian lifestyle, their decisions and actions can be quite mercurial. On a whim a stated position can become contrarian so I say nothing concrete until the signature is on a contract.




Latest Ubuntu build!



While we see what happens there, I am adding Linux to laptops and desktops that travel or get used for training purposes at our organization. I will start with the Dell business class “tank” I have used the last few years. Metal body - not plastic - and a 500gb solid state hard drive with as much ram as I could stuff in there and a i7 processor - still relevant! The biggest concern for me is traveling to New York or Geneva on advocacy business and having Windows fail or be compromised far from home. By having a dual boot laptop I can go to Linux instead and still access my files on Windows and continue to function. I already did this (early this morning) with Umbuntu 18.4 which is the thumb drive OS I used to format the DCP hard drives for theatrical use for our films. Ubuntu is the most user friendly of the distributions and their snap application gives you many apps you are used to using. I started with the newest release which was 20.04, but for some reason didn’t get the prompts to run the OS with Windows and fearing a complete format I bailed on that install. I then plugged in the next to last build and installed that alongside Windows. So far so good and I’ll update the OS and add a few apps through “snap” (which again is their app store) and be done with it.



The dual boot prompt!


But I also have an old desktop that is not being used, so that will probably get formatted with the latest build called Linux Mint 6. This is based on Unbuntu but is forking away and forging its own path with a new App Store based on flatpack. I won’t get into the politics but will use both and see whichever comes out on top. So this is what I’ll be doing while I wait.




I’ll also watch a few movies as what else can you do during a pandemic.....




Later.....

[Maurice Ali]

Good news!



FOF just signed a new artist to our stable at FOF Records!



More news later.....

[Maurice Ali]

Ok, we have a new act.....



Syse!


That is the man above and he is a hip hop/rap artist from Toronto called “Syse”! Signing the guy was like all the others before - always drama! But I’ll be honest and say I really like doing this, and in an industry that is truly on its knees these days.


We will make the formal announcement on Monday as we are still a traditional group of companies and I told the man that signing musical artists was always like this: getting a call and rushing down to the beaches and reviewing the contract on a park bench by ourselves. It always happens like this - but at Sony or any of the big labels left, you then have the “staged” signing that they put out there. But let it be said, that the real agreements are always at a moment’s notice and person to person in the most unlikely places. Sort of like in one movie where the artist gets their big break still wearing their fast food uniform - yes, the reality is just like that!



Was this Powerwolf contract signing staged?



So a big welcome to Syse! You will learn more about him starting Monday.




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/jc7q7EYREu8

[Maurice Ali]

Man, what a weekend.....



I’ll update the office stuff now and when we get Shane to post the Syse announcement I’ll talk about that tomorrow.




This version of Linux looks familiar to me!



So I switched Ubuntu for Linux Mint on my travel laptop - no biggie there as I just like that desktop. As for my old IBM laptop with the perfect keyboard - well, probably a dual boot with mint 18.3 (while you still can use 32 bit) because this thing is only 32 bit with hardware and bios locked down. So I’ll do that on Monday and take a break from all that for a bit.



As I said before, the advocacy is still up in the air but more and more it looks like nothing for the rest of the year. So we will probably concentrate on distribution and branding for artists at home. But we are still open on advocacy on all fronts.



As a side note: It seems Ontario is finally going to get rid of “streaming” which is a corrupt and racist system that keeps minorities from higher education - the opposite of our positive mandate. What I find amazing is that it was still there! You regulars know my experience with this 45 years ago and it is still here now?



Human beings - wow.....

[Maurice Ali]

[Maurice Ali]

A bunch of things to do.





Shane and Syse hamming it up!



There are some bureaucratic things I still have to do signing Syse, so that gets done today. But the biggest thing is branding, and number one is his web presence! If you google Syse he is no where except for YouTube videos and maybe in a list of rappers. So his own website will get him a spot on the web - I’m really good at this - and then on social media. We still need his own website as social media has restrictions as in “terms of service” that can restrict expression - so we still have personal websites. We also need to get his music on all the music distribution sites as that area is also hurting.




Shane and Syse hamming it up!



So you who read this will get a real-time view of how to get an artist into the mass media these days! But first is their web presence. Syse has a name and genre - so we can move quickly on the site and metadata, but I also want to get those musicians under developmental contracts involved as this will solidify how they want to project themselves and their music. So while new musicians like Tyler have been quiet with us for a while, this may change the pace of development. I also have to check up on some artists and see how they are doing when they go quite on social media, like Tabitha and a few others.



Tyler Craig!


So that is how it goes right now. When I replace Syse’s home page I’ll probably head off to Starbucks and then back to the office to scan some documents. At least now I have stuff to do.




Goodnight.....




(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/tb6kQaoVJLQ

[Maurice Ali]

[Maurice Ali]

We may - and I repeat may - have some big news coming up.....



While all that stuff gets sorted out behind the scenes, you may wonder why all the activity at the record label? How can I possibly make money during Covid 19? The answer is that we are now one of the largest and most established independent corporate record labels in Canada. And the support does not end with the label, as there are four more entertainment corporations involved - in fact we need two just to distribute our songs. What I get from all this these days is “equity”. And the equity can be substantial - but equity is fickle usually based on perceived value of the stock. All my corporations have 100,000 shares of stock each. That price per share is what matters and as other labels and entertainment companies declare bankruptcy - every one of my entertainment companies get a bump in value!



On paper the value is wildly exaggerated. On paper the music and TV shows and movies are into the million of dollars (CAN) and the advertising company has contracts with Canada’s largest corporations and access to our music and videos for commercial exploitation. But the reality is what you can actually get if you sell out. I’m not selling out anytime soon! But to keep the perceived value up we have to keep showing the industry that things are still happening here, by creating new music, expanding that catalogue that is now in the hundreds. Creating documentaries of interest for knowledge and entertainment. So while the music industry is in total free fall, we at FOF are running on all cylinders! Expect more musical acts and more employees to signup with us. But as activity ramps up I keep costs in check - it’s all good, and in the next hour I will write a check that puts us below our debt level since 2011 - I repeat - we haven’t increased our debt in the last nine years, in fact we have decreased it. So I’m sitting pretty to climb over the corpses of those companies that were too inflexible to change with market conditions.



What do the artists and staff get from all this? They get the chance to forge their own identity independently of what their societies say they can be - the positive mandate in action! We are an organization where creativity rules, where everyone is able to create and define their identities for themselves, and go as far as their abilities can take them. When you sign with FOF you are not what you do to pay the rent, you are what you want to be, and if you can pay the rent with it that - then that is an extra perk of this association.



That’s all I’m saying now. Yesterday was hectic and I slept till 10am today. Things are happening.....



Later.....






https://youtu.be/ft0vkKCadgk


https://youtu.be/QqjQxs9l5fg

[Maurice Ali]

Another big announcement coming up!


Wow: 3:00pm and I haven’t had breakfast yet - back in the music industry for sure and FOF may be the last one standing when Covid 19 has run its course. Who would have ever thought - me in the music industry - and now five acts currently making music with FOF!




Later.....





(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/D3JvyvgPtN4

[Maurice Ali]

You guessed it - another act.....



As I said before this works for me now but we are getting close to our limit of comfortability. I really don’t want to take on a “high maintenance” band right now - but that definitely is in the future and probably NuMetal or Hardcore.







I’ll wait till the actual announcement and just put out a teaser from their web page. We signed the contracts but only with the principle members and not the entire band - stuff about the actual band comes later. Like I said with Syse and these contract signings - the actual ones - are a lot of questions and back and forth, you can’t videotape that in about a minute. Nobody dresses up for the occasion. They are informal usually at the artist’s house to keep the pressure down on the whole thing. So I signed in a dark living room, and we tried the video but it was too dark to focus. I would need a real camcorder with lights to do it. So we took a spare copy and staged it outside with better light and lousy audio due to wind and traffic. It sort of works - but now you know why the public signings are totally bogus and staged! Having said that, the actual signings are worthy of being captured, nice and honest without the bull shit - but it never happens for the reasons already stated. A pity.....



So the universal Building near my house is being evacuated. The big music posters have been taken off the exterior and the only reminders are the label etchings on the front door like Island Records. Seeing this last night was actually scary to be honest. The whole industry is in total free fall.....



It’s not reinventing itself as there is nothing new to take its place. Remember a while ago I bitched that I was supposed to be doing the ”man of the world” thing for advocacy and “reinventing the music industry”. Well I have my chance at reinventing the music company business model - now - so I shouldn’t be bitching! Just saying.....



Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/AqZceAQSJvc

[Maurice Ali]

[Maurice Ali]

I checked again and basically for advocacy it is all fubar!



I was fortunate to disseminate the positive mandate at the United Nations formally and as a side event. That was the big deal I wanted from The Fates and they gave it to me. This February was success in dissemination of the voting app at the UN, but more of a behind the scenes thing than like the positive mandate. But I still got the side event in there in 2017. I did my job in dissemination - but then you want more.....






The UN is still slightly a wild card as Covid 19 is under control there in New York, but I’m not “betting the farm” on anything happening there this year.







As for the media companies the record label is rocking away but everything else has hit road blocks. The Library of Canada still has not finished cataloguing my book on the positive mandate. I mean it’s back open again - what gives? The last TV show is still stuck in review with Prime Video - other indie filmmakers now fear Amazon will pull a Netflix, and really tighten up on new material as the delay could be a reason to start using aggregators like Netflix does. Time will tell but while it would give exclusivity for the titles already on prime - as it does for Netflix now - it severely hampers new creativity from the platform and brings “subjectivity” as a judgement call before inclusion in Prime Video’s catalogue. Subjectivity as in ability of the new material to draw an audience and money that way. But this is all speculation as nothing has happened yet. All just conversations among indie filmmakers at this time.


Before you I pass judgement on me and my “failures” currently in my life - just remember in the past two years we premiered a feature length documentary at one of the largest theatres in Toronto and then the festival circuit - and two months later disseminated the positive mandate concept formally and as a side event at the United Nations. Then published a 178 page book on the positive mandate. Then streamed the movie and short on Prime Video. Then premiered a season of television programming on Prime as well as a variety show. And you all know what is going on in the music - yet I still feel like a loser cause I’m not doing more! Nothing to see here - better watch some male model shopping at the mall, that’s what really matters in life! I should have disseminated the positive mandate for sentient AI by now as a base engram and tried to get some consensus from those who matter on the idea. But all on hold because of a global pandemic! I have only so many years to live so we have to get things back on the hump! And I know some will tell me that compared to others the stuff you did in the last 15 years is in another universe compared to most people. But I don’t consider myself most people - I have a job to do and one year just got stole from me. Anyway, enough of this, I’m no family guy - you do what you are good at - and everyone says I’m good at this, so.....




That is your update for today.....

[Maurice Ali]

Well my car is leaking again - I’m pissed to say the least!



So the Ford dealer was honest saying they didn’t do anything but take my money for the diagnostic that showed no leak. It’s back to not leaking again so I’ll just wait till it gets worse and take it back to them. Man - three and a half weeks waiting on the lot and I didn’t even get the repair!


Anyway I’ll just relax and let it ride. A lot of thing are happening now - so it it isn’t urgent I’ll just let it ride.....




Later.....





https://youtu.be/S13DozOsAu8



https://youtu.be/klRoSj0nYmE

[Maurice Ali]

———BIG ANNOUNCEMENT COMING UP!———