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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 4:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Update time.....








We didn’t get the “dear John” letter from Netflix I was expecting on Friday. Of course the rules said by the end of August which is Monday. So we shall see Monday.



Im taking it easy this weekend but will do the SOCAN work. Then maybe some EQ work on The Brawlers EP. Things are coming along with an idea for the cover art.


It’s late, sleeping and talking with musicians. The day just goes. We are in wait mode right now so all is good. Next week I have direction and things start to ramp up again - Covid or no Covid.....



Later.....
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 9:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Alright, I’m punching this out…..



I spent Saturday mostly talking to our musicians, about their dreams and ambitions. Whether that comes true is more a matter of probability than anything else, but it is true to say that in terms of talent they can come close or even equal hit songs that make it. The reality is that the music industry – especially in the past – needed icons to sell CDs and merchandise and concerts – that’s the industry - and that meant a voice and a pretty or handsome face with a tall and fit body. It’s an industry and anything that fits the description and is reliable will work. It’s not about making a hit song – and then - having a product to keep the CDs pressing and the stadiums filled. Big money can't rely on happenstance like that. Now that business model does not even exist these days. There is still a shred of hope for musicians but it is even more of a lottery than it was before.




The United Nations in New York!



In other fantasies – like mine - I actually did realize my fantasy and goals as a child. Yes as a child fantasizing about me later on in life walking up the steps at the UN as a “man of the world” - to save it. The vision ends there and so far I got that in real life! But it does not go further as to whether I was successful – that part is ambiguous to the extreme. There was never any fantasizes or visions about that. There was no positive mandate in my thoughts back then – just the vision. So now that the dream became flesh, I am in uncharted waters so to speak. There is opportunity but no guarantees. To go forward you risk but without certainty that risk will pay off. In many ways this is a trip for an individual or lone wolf. I was a lone wolf for much of my life but now the responsibilities add up. I can probably play the plays out but things are converging on me. Retirement, getting old and family responsibilities I didn’t have to deal with when we started this. And yet – over and over again – I add up the years and there isn’t much wiggle room to do what I am doing. I’m in a rare place for one person, but whatever, nobody has a crystal ball. This is reality and real life. Things don’t always work out like they do in the movies. Even at my age the future is still open, but that opening is getting smaller and smaller – but it is still open to me and my ambitions…..



And that is where I am now.



In the universe of the practical: In addition to the SOCAN stuff, it looks like we have direction on "The Brawlers" EP - Yes, it will be called "The Brawlers" with cover art reminiscent of that similar Beatles album cover. Things are moving along now. Another new member at the journalist org - you would think it’s a ghost town at the website, but it is very active behind the scenes.



Goodnight…..



Oh, one other thing: I am making changes in my lifestyle starting today. I live a crazy lifestyle - or have - like living in a four bedroom house with no family, eating junk food (which strangely doesn’t seem to have aged me or anything like that), just this bizarre lone wolf lifestyle. It does work for a while but as you get old it’s not so cool anymore. I did move with a fast crowd back in the day and that is where I got my “balls” to do what I do today. You have to be fearless and sure of yourself, it worked but it is a lonely lifestyle. But it did work strangely enough, and even for a scrawny brown guy like me. But you will soon get a more palatable version of me gradually taking place because my former lifestyle can’t go on forever even though it was effective in a bizarre way.....





(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/sFO2qm4E7f0
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 1:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Like yesterday I’m just taking care of bureaucratic things for my gang. I have the final mix for The Brawlers EP. I also have more direction on the album cover. Things keep moving ahead.



As I said before - there is no “how to” book on what I am trying to do and even though I had fantasized about it as a kid, things alway happened as a 54 year old going forward (that figure always was burned in my mind). I was off by a year even though I was applying, and dealing with the UN at 54, the general assembly speech happened at 55 - close enough Nostradamus.


But I had to be “made” to be effective. I had to get away from society - outside of it all - on the fringes where I learned how society really works and grew my balls as sheep do not change the world. And by “balls” I don’t mean being a jerk or an a-hole, but rather being bold and dynamic enough to do what you want to do - rather than being timid and talking yourself out of things. That is the end result but getting there is alway “interesting” or in other words you have to be made that way. And the people you would hang out with in those days! One guy who shall remain nameless was sitting next to me laughing hysterically at me doing something and me smiling and making excuses one weekend long, long ago - years later he would be the head of [deleted over an abundance of caution]. Nobody knew that at the time but it is funny how people from there end up in interesting places - I’m just another example. I wonder what he would think about what I am up to now.....


But what will be my final Epithet here in the end? I lead a horrible life for no good reason and came up with a concept and philosophy that would correct these problems and made it universal for all as a Positive Mandate for Humanity. Not a bad inscription for a tombstone. Well yes, not bad but that doesn’t hide the fact how miserable that life was. Still a lonely life, even now you are always scrimping and compromising on what you want in life.


All this is another sign that you are getting old and sizing your life up. I’m glad I continue to stick to the experiment rules even though the experiment is over - don’t disrespect or forget what “made” you. I’ll keep everything going but at the cottage level industry we are at. Stay true to the cause - cause - that’s all I have in the end. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself as I’m not that old yet. The hair is still on your head - but thinner than the days of youth. Joints are fine but pushing things means you feel it the next day but it goes away. You aren’t as wrinkled up as those you grew up with. You have some time but not a lot. You can’t help but think ahead and make plans. And that is where I’m at this day.....




Later.....






https://youtu.be/udjUJpOuJ14
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Tue Sep 01, 2020 9:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote





Well, well, well, it looks like we will have to wait on Netflix as they had a last minute rush on applications that filled up their email and the first cut is the middle of September. I’ll play it out as there is nothing else to do right now - but 25 thousand applications the last day alone looks like sheep following each other off a cliff.....





Actually we would be better to have just gone to aggregators for finished material and done it that way - but I’m not going through that process again. So I will let this process play itself out. We petitioned HBO, who replied by sending a women from the History Channel looking for extras. I sent the stuff into their head office while I was in New York on UN business, so for them to do this was a nice gesture. AMC was nice too and just across the street from Madison Square Gardens and a stones throw away from HBO. NBC was a few blocks from there but threatened legal action against us but yet took our stuff from Thirty Rock Plaza in New York over to California and then the lawyers from there. One Three Media now United Artisits Media Grouo actually had me sign a release and looked at one of our shows - that’s Mark Burnett (Survivor game) and crew over there near Central Park. We did get our stuff on Prime Video but just restricted to the States and the UK and that does not work for our advocacy. India for example is by invitation only. The only big one missing was Netflix and that one is in play now.








Having said all that I have activated the FOF ENTERTAINMENT Channel and should have Real life: Real Lives up by later today. If you see the link then it is live!


But we will wait and try to get a handful of subscribers for the time being. I’m playing out the film and TV producer thing, milking each experience before throwing our material everywhere (for free) to get the concept out there. Funnily enough, our first show (The Fortress TV Show) came after Saturday Night Live, and I believe because of that BBM (not Blackbery) gave us like 60 thousand but at the start it was probably closer to double that as the audience came off SNL on a Saturday night and with Sting hosting that night as well. That may be our record and it was our first. No Youtube back in 2005 - only TV as nothing streamed on the internet - and we were nation-wide on Channel 3 (Global TV) over the air and cable and all the rest at that time. In the passage of time it just didn’t get any better than that. Don’s show was similar but daytime TV but no lead in like SNL!




Suffice to said I have tasted much in the entertainment world with a movie in a stand alone theatre to a big outdoor concert literally at the best day in the year (August 1, 2011 a civic holiday) and at Yonge-Dundas Square with the highest amount of traffic in Canada. Like our first show we had at about 60,000 passing through the Square that day! The Sky Dome can hold almost 20,000 by comparison - but those people pay, there is always that! Was it worth the time and expense - of course it was! I have to note it all as a list to see what we all accomplished over the years, one home run after another - one great experience after another - because I had the “balls” to try. But that was for me personally and for my gang, the advocacy remains. So we play out Netflix and get the real work done.




Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 8:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So yes another Youtube channel.


Jessica King wrote:
FOF Entertainment Inc. Channel on YouTube!



By Jessica King FOF Inc. / FOF Entertainment Inc.






FOF Entertainment Inc. is pleased to announce that we now have a dedicated YouTube channel at:


https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCKeenXM4CozzHGMDU7WaXhg



Please note that the channel is FOF ENTERTAINMENT INC. and not just FOF Entertainment as there are several variants there. But FOF Entertainment Inc. is a protected name and FOF Entertainment holds all top level domains under that name. So sit back and enjoy your favourite FOF Entertainment artists on our new YouTube channel!



https://fofentertainment.com




FOF ENTERTAINMENT: ENTERTAINMENT FOR EVERYONE!



This one will have the non-musical videos like our movie and TV series. As of now everything is gone from Prime Video. They still have some money for me but that is a joke and come October 1 a new pay scale is in place. The last change dropped royalties by 30 percent. One thing I like about moving around the media industry is that you get real “street cred” as I’ve been everywhere! This helps if the positive mandate takes off and people wonder about how to enable the concept of free expression on the ground - Let’s just say: I have a few ideas!





But back to Prime Video. We have to thank them for their early days letting indie in and paying a worthy royalty rate. Of course as most platforms mature and go upscale they become more discerning and pay less for indie material than they did starting out. This is what is happening right now. But having one of my shows in the series censored - probably based on some anti-war archive video that has nothing to do with me - from Prime was it for me. That freedom of expression thing again. Youtube could be similar but I intend to make my videos the “whores” of the internet to help get the concept and philosophy out there! But while Prime may give your ego as an indie a boost, what are you really making there? Most at it full time may make 5 bucks a month. A really popular film that gets 10 million minutes streaming a month only nets you 1,700 a month and that is as good as it gets. In contrast, I bought some DVDs for myself (The Fortress Experiment from Amazon.com only) and that gets me 25 bucks direct deposit to the corporation’s account. At the end of the year my DVD sales will net me more than 99.5 percent of all my indie filmmakers at Prime. In music sales we made thousands at iTunes but maybe - maybe - enough to buy a newspaper after all these years in all streaming services.....



Wise up guys - getting jerked around and payed nothing just to be on a platform is whoring yourself. Always be able to free yourself from something you feel miserable about. Don’t be a prisoner to your pride..... If Youtube jerks us around there are other platforms and even our own which could stream The Free Press show if it gets censored again. Free yourself to the possibilities!



What about Netflix? I give our chances at 2 percent and I’m just waiting till mid-month because it is cool for my gang to say they are being looked at by Netflix by invitation - which is absolutely true. But for me it’s saturating all media for the cause, and a platform so restrictive you can’t even see your own shows (yes, I never saw any of my shows on Prime Video) is not the best way to get the message out. I want the stuff in some squirrelly but popular streaming service in Mumbai with the kids seeing a brown guy kicking ass in North America with all kinds of obstacles in his path! Get the message out there!



I don’t expect to be popular here in the western world as a brown dude. But the world is a big place and several continents will give a brown lead a chance before clicking elsewhere, so I’m more than a little bit interested in those markets - we shall see how my ideas are received.




Goodnight.....



https://youtu.be/ypke-46PnU8o
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, another day and after berating Amazon it looks like FOF Records and More Vision will sign three to four contracts with Amazon - if that makes any sense to you. Really I’m just future proofing the corporations.



Even though we are migrating content to Youtube, I still have contracts with Amazon - four right now - and they are still active. FOF and FOF Entertainment can still get video content on Prime Video for anyone. So basically we will start to dabble in getting other indie artists on Prime Video if (what I believe is happening) indie access gets harder or completely disappears. The pandemic gave Amazon entire catalogs of TV and Motion Picture content, so they don’t need indie material as much anymore. The reason it takes so long to get on Prime in the last few months - if you get on at all - is because Prime Video now has aggregators like Netflix and these organizations take priority over indie submitted material.



Originally indie material could make 15 cents an hour when Prime Video started and now it’s 1 cent and I got an email on Monday telling me the UK/Germany/Japan content can now go as low as .7 cents an hour. You would think when they reach 0 cents an hour that would be as low as it could go - but then they could ask indies to pay for their content to be on Prime Video “for the privilege” of being on a top tier platform (and this only after being vetted for quality). So what is your breaking point?



We will lay low and see what happens. My stuff has to be everywhere for free cause I’m pushing a concept worldwide so Prime does not work for me or the cause anyway. The experiment is now over but the corporations involved will still continue to put new material out there - it just won’t be my material. But it could work for others which is why we keep the contracts “grandfathered”.






And note: I’m not being mean to Amazon, it’s just business to them and why pay more than you have to? They are so big I can disparage parts of their organization and yet they will welcome me with open arms to sign contracts. I would love if the movers and shakers at Amazon read this blog and took action against me - but they are too big and I’m too small to care one way or another. Big business just continues. It would be the same at AliBaba as Amazon and Ali keep seesawing as to who is larger. Alipay - for example - is now bigger than Paypal and has been for several years. People asked Michael Moore how he could use the very organizations that he criticizes to help him promote his documentaries and it’s the same reason - they are so big they dont care..... So lots of structural stuff happening now as I get our advocacy in gear.






I’m trying to change the world for the better in my own little way and I can’t get mired in petty little things like prestige video platforms. It’s getting the ideas disseminated as efficiently as possible for me. We are coming up on 2 years since the premiere of our first major motion picture (what a quaint phrase that) and I have experienced the whole process - I made it around that block - time to move on. It was fun doing the producer/director stuff, but I only have so much time left so I have to let all that go. But we will have new younger blood taking over at all our corporations and gradually they will grow and find their place in the media industry.






I have to concentrate at the task at hand, nobody lives forever, nobody beats the devil.



Goodnight.....




https://youtu.be/uyeeO8sb-A8
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Fri Sep 04, 2020 9:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maurice Ali wrote:
IAIJ-FOF Group Signs Multiple Contracts with Amazon!



By Maurice Ali,
Fortress of Freedom Inc.
International Archiving of Independent Journalists Inc.
FOF Entertainment Inc.
FOF Records Inc.
More Vision Inc.








The IAIJ-FOF Group has signed multiple contracts with Amazon as executed on this day of the 3rd of September 2020! The IAIJ-FOF Group is a conglomerate of corporations dedicated to free expression of all forms as mandated by the concept called: The Positive Mandate for Humanity. Fortress of Freedom Inc., FOF Records Inc., More Vision Inc., FOF Entertainment Inc. and International Archiving of Independent Journalists Inc.; now all have the ability to utilize the media reach of Amazon in all it’s forms!



As President and CEO, I would like to congratulate Amazon for its openness to business through its successful business model and my wishes to all at this organization for continued success in all our endeavours through our collaboration with Amazon!



https://iaijfofgroup.com
https://fortressoffreedom.com
https://fofentertainment.com
https://fofrecords.com
https://morevision.ca
https://iaij.com




IAIJ-FOF GROUP: FREE EXPRESSION EVERYWHERE!





Actually it’s 7 new contracts with Amazon with 3 new ones with Prime Video and 4 new ones with “Media on Demand”. For FOF Records it means access to Prime Video for music based specials and documentaries along with the ability to sell normal CDs as needed instead of huge runs of CDs that are going out of style. We can also sell DVDs and Blurays as needed right from Amazon. It allows all kinds of merchandise to be sold like clothing for bands and acts and special evens. FOF coolers - you name it!



So all companies are in on this except the association and that is no longer a part of the IAIJ-FOF Group, it’s place being taken by FOF Entertainment. Doing all this in one day was a bitch - I won’t lie - (if I have to deal with another “base erosion test” or TIN number or bank identifier code - steam will come out of my ears) and don’t get me started on the special treaties between countries to avoid withholding costs! But it is finally done.....



What else?





Ok, while we await the rejection email from Netflix that finally sets me free from the world of TV Land, I can talk about stuff not in play there - like “Real Life: Real Lives” which is a short I did like 14 years ago in SD. I’ll get more into that on the weekend because parts of it are very interesting, but as I look back I see all the street youth that have died on the street connected to that film.





Shane’s friend Ryan was stabbed to death and the newspaper story is silk-screened on that white shirt we put him in to contrast his rap against all that dark graffiti. That song was written by Shane in prison about actual people he knew on the street - hense - Real Life! The short starts with Shane wandering around town - which was deliberate - I once watched inmates released from detention centres and they are just let go as is and they just wander around the neighbourhood with no money and such - something has to be done about that..... Anyway we cut to Shane rapping and go to the first vignette called “The Prostitute” which was about a single mother who prostitutes herself at night to make ends meet; well she got strangled to death in real life, and since we used the actual people in the doco this became a problem. So we decided to use an actress this one time (Sabrina Singh) but everyone else were the real people as depicted in the song. In the final segment called “The Real Life Crew” was Julie who I believe later died of an overdose, though I’m not 100% sure, but it sure looks so. I would like more than anything to be wrong on this though. I was really hard on her when I interviewed her and in the passage of time would probably have taken all that back. But whatever, it all sounds clever if they are still around to defend themselves, but when dead those things can come back to haunt you.



Julie as I met her: Dead or alive?



Julie being grilled by me and sort of getting emotional!




But like I said, I’ll revisit that short during our long weekend.




The Real Life Crew!


Goodnight.....





(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/QAt6VwOtulk
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2020 10:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It’ has been an interesting week…..



So all the contracts are signed, sealed and delivered. This means that for FOF Records, we can get taped specials and concerts on Prime Video as streamed or rent/pay, but not only that - we can offer up DVD or Bluray, we can even sell merchandise with it and CDs with all the artwork and full resolution files (16bit 44.1) for those discerning audiophiles. As you can see, this frees me from manufacturing on my own and Amazon does it instead as “on demand” and so this works very well for us across all media and corporations.



As for any parting thoughts about Prime Video: Clearly they have matured and are not interested in dealing with indie artists one-on one-anymore. What is your solution if Amazon snuffs your video that they previously reviewed and hosted as meeting their quality standards – believe it or not it is to go through an aggregator like Filmhub to get it back on again – yes – this is what they are doing! And yes this plays into Amazon’s future business plan that mimics Netflix now. We won’t be doing any of that with my material as I want More Vision (distributor of “The Life and Times of Donald “Boots” Brasseur to CTV) and FOF Entertainment to distribute to entities like Netflix and Prime Video. My stuff goes to places like Youtube and such where I can now do the virtual conference and point them to the movie or TV shows internationally with no issues of availability. Prior to this, at the United Nations, I had a stack of DVDs of our movie to hand out. That was the problem with Prime Video, as we were only available in the States and the UK. I could not even have friends and family and co-workers see the stuff as they were not in the regions given. That won’t do, so after complaints made The Free Press TV show unavailable long ago, the writing was on the wall for Prime Video. The problem is that you can’t delete your shows from Prime; they just become unavailable to the regions they were in. That web address previously used to stream/rent/buy is still there under Prime Video’s website, but with the tag that it is unavailable for your region. So, like the mafia, you are never really out – you are there for life. But the good side is that the contract still is in good standing and still available to upload videos. And while this would be moot for a private individual with a few titles, as a corporation distributor we can contract with other individuals and get their material on Prime as much as we want. So in the end – ultimately – Prime Video becomes an almost exclusively aggregated entryway to their streaming platform. It really is not feasible for a private individual who signed up with Prime Video to host another private individual’s film on the same account – but a corporation can! So as I said before, we will lay low and see how this all shakes out. But the direction is clear and they want indie out as direct customers. From royalties of 15 cents per hour, to 6 cents last year and now to 1 cent and later to .7 cents an hour – they are making life so miserable that indie filmmakers will just leave on their own. At any rate – they play their games, and we play ours…..



What else?




Sabrina



Some more about the Real Life: Real Lives video – and yes I know Youtube wants some of you to sign in to the site to view because of the 18+ designation and that hampers views and makes monetization impossible – but I don’t want any grief with Youtube! Anyway the single mother prostitute was killed and we needed a substitute. So I got Sabrina who did the "Nicotine" music video for us a while back.



Sabrina as “The Prostitute”



I asked and she was good for another go at film making as it was back in the day. We did stuff like having her talk to the non-existent baby, and then wake up and go from single mom to prostitute walking the streets for cash. Poor, Sabrina I thought, as she had to strip down to her undies and put on the hooker outfit as a transformation from single mother to prostitute – but she was cool with the idea. To make matters worse we could not have her in some Frederick’s of Hollywood bra and panties, but real mismatched underwear. She went even further with “granny panties” which I thought was a bit much but whatever. We moved on to the mirror scene where she puts on makeup and looks at herself and cries. I did the old shoot into the mirror and pan out shot and it sort of worked but the mirror was scratched so you always knew you were looking into a mirror – but real life you know. Then to the back lot of a real studio where we had her walk the streets until me (the ”John”) picked her up (we even filmed us talking about her “prices” just to be thorough – but never used it) and took her to her place where I strangled her to death as in the actual fate of this woman. I could not have one of my gang do this as she didn’t know and trust them – so I had to do the dirty work. The shot wasn’t too embarrassing as you just saw Sabrina’s legs flailing away and my big ass in the air, but it was all superimposed. So we did and redid the strangling and strangely we both found it arousing - which is all the rage now but a revelation back then. Of course I wasn’t really strangling her, but with the two of us writhing and struggling together and me with my hands on her neck gently squeezing - over and over – it is true that you can start to see the allure of this S&M stuff, not that I’m in to that, but I note it as something we both found out about in an innocent way. Anyway, after that I cut the segment and reviewed it with my mom hating it because I was a "John" murder in it – even though you never see my face….



(NSFW)
https://fofentertainment.com/Sabrina_Segment_1.wmv



And that was the deal with the prostitute segment or vignette. We used a large three sensor camera and larger lights you don’t see. I used a Sony broadcast camera (PD 170) for this and not tungsten, but blue bulbs for lighting. Tungsten can work on white folk to add better skin tones but for brown people I find the blue bulbs give them nice skin and no tinting of the surroundings to get it.



That is about it for now. It’s a long weekend and I intend to be productive…..



Goodnight…..





(NSFW: Real Life: Real Lives)
https://youtu.be/QAt6VwOtulk
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 12:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

2,000,000 million views - Wow.....





Now for a blog that is like 15 years old, that isn’t that big an achievement, but it is a milestone nonetheless. I started this thing in 2005 but the board itself was started in October of 2003. It was such a big thing to have back then. This was before Facebook remember.






Like a lot of accomplishments - getting on TV before Youtube.






Starting our own paper newspaper in 2004 was a big deal then also. And of course my first book.





Even making music was an expensive thing back then going to big well known studios and burning through cash, but you could also make money back then.





Everything has changed so much since then. Getting our CDs in the record stores was a big deal - only to have them all close up for good in a few years.



Suffice to say this blog is a personal trip through those times. It does suck to see those great accomplishments reduced in importance now that anyone can do these things and for basically free - back then every issue of The Fortress was thousands of dollars and every CD was the cost of a car! All of it was a big deal back then, now everyone can do it basically for free. This of course is what we wanted in the end - we were just ahead of the curve when we did it: “Bringing The Mass Media To The Masses!”



The money I spent on camcorders only to have a cellphone virtually do the same thing today, and everyone has one. It was always a problem to shoot video without grain in every shot especially at night, and to get smooth SD content was so hard - and now anyone can get beautiful HD content without trying. But all this was for a cause and the cause lives on though I’m an old man now - but I wasn’t when I started. The people here were litterally kids when we started but they are all mothers and fathers now - so strange.



Anyway all those years and two million visits is still a moment. The old board broke down just as we were going to make it - but no matter - that was an easy fix. Sooner or later this place will cease to be, like myself, all lost in the passage of time. And the only thing to show for it all in the end was an idea/concept and philosophy called The Positive Mandate for Humanity. If we can establish that concept as a legitimate social icon and lifestyle - then maybe it was all worth it.....



Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



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PostPosted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 4:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So the last post was for the 2 millionth milestone – this one is the usual. A long weekend and I just finished grocery shopping. But it was an interesting week. First of all I put myself into a "sentient AI mode” (by simply working on that model all week) and took it for a test spin. Now many of you probably can’t do this as human plasticity may be the only way to allow this and it happens in the first few months of childhood. For me, having two mothers and families and cultures – not guaranteed but probably - gave this to me, so some of you may have that ability and not know it. But I seem have the ability to embrace different forms thought easily while most can only embrace the usual biological forms because they were never exposed to any others early in their upbringing. Plasticity in the mind solidifies as we get older, so if you didn’t have that lifecycle you lost the plasticity to have it and will never again get it.



But whatever, I seem to have that ability (probably the reason I was interested in philosophy) and put myself in “sentient AI mode” and the only difference I could see is that the ability to place human faces and names is severely restricted. That is all I noticed but it was obvious. But when you think about it, why would an AI need this intuitively, only a biological being needing this for survival would need this – thus the test was a success! The big score was that the Positive Mandate still works here. The freest expression mentally and physically because it makes us happy, works and makes sense. It points direction to growth without concretely defining it so true self-determination for the AI is given. It works! So back to the biological mentality, and we can see that the advantage to us is that the AI has a path to know what a feeling is. That gives it kinship with us and thus a chance to co-exist with it even though it will grow faster than us in the future. So this is the plan for me in the scientific community. To get the positive mandate as the base engram for any sentient AI. I am still just a fallible and ordinary human, but my development was different enabling me to access different modes of thought, like a savant who bridges these two thought systems, but for me it is enabling a destiny for sentient AI that is all its own and in the process allowing humans to survive if need be. We will compete for resources in the end, and if a new AI can’t relate to us then why allow us to use those ever decreasing resources? I’m just putting that out there for humans to embrace the idea through self-interest if that works. But I hope you understand why I am pushing this idea along with the major idea for humanity. We are playing with fire with the new tech, but this gives us a chance to survive unlike the other options.





The photo above was taken by by father of his computer science department at NAIT back in the 1970s. Little did these eggheads know where all this was heading and the mess I would have to clean up. For you women out there; even in the 70s there was woman’s liberation and check out the female business suits back then. Unlike the other more established fields, computer science was one of the few that women and minorities had a chance to enter in those days. Like the inequality with black people, women still face the same crap even after all these years. We need new ideas folks.....



I own this, and it was dinner table talk when I was a philosophy student in my 20s. This is on the children of those that conceived of quantum computing and computer science in general. My dad gave up civil engineering for computer science teaching it at NAIT (and Ryerson) in the 1970s. If anything bad comes from this it is blood on my hands as I own it. I intend to solve that problem and “shut the gate” on it before I die.....




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/t2uRuFgZSDc
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 9:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Miscellaneous ramblings.....




I’ll give you an early one today for a change.




I just checked the UN and World Bank/IMF and WTO and it doesn’t look good for any activity this year - a complete write off. The UN is the hardest as you get the chance to “run into” heads of state in the hallways and such. Point is that if you get in there you are a “big shot” no questions asked. I get to apply, but that is the “A” ticket so no luck as yet - but I do get to apply so that in itself means something I guess. No chance this year though and 2021 is looking a bit sketchy also. But there is nothing I can do about that.....



My Apple Watch 5 - soon to be old news - boo hoo.....


Apple and the usual September launch is mostly a bust because of Covid 19. Many leakers say something is happening tomorrow for the Apple Watch 6. We will find out soon and I’m interested as I plunked down 1200 bucks for a stainless steel model to keep my mind off turning 60. But as any Apple fan knows you live in terror next year as the latest and greatest model comes out and everything before it is now crap. Word on the street is that it is a minor upgrade with a model to replace the Apple Watch 3 sort of like the iPhone SE. You have to take that with a grain of salt as the always on display was never leaked last year. The watch could get an optical crown or Touch ID and blood oxygen monitor. We shall see but sad to say I have one day left with the coolest Apple Watch.....





I’m still waiting on what Netflix wants to do with us. They will probably reject us and I’ve lowered our probabilities from 2 to 1 percent now. But I will go through the motions. Then I will be free of TV land misery! Free at last - Free at last.....


The record label is still rock’in. Mostly because unlike video, everyone has abandoned it lately except for the actual bands and musicians, why - easy - no money. It is a financial black hole unless you can run it literally on vapour and a corporate entity makes that almost impossible - almost......



So really right now we are in a ground war situation which is always what I wanted to avoid! I wanted to avoid it as you just end up getting kicked around by everyone and it gets to you after a while. The ground war is what kills off ambition in almost everyone that tries to change things on the ground - and here we are. But we have some history and swagger to help it but it still will be a grind until things get back to normal. The plan is to get some traction on the ground and then return to those international icons of influence and power with renewed vigour. But also - there is nothing else to do. My gang is helping out and I see Jessica has found some subscribers for the FOF Entertainment Inc. YouTube channel. Others are doing other things but it’s like banging your head against a brick wall.







The funny thing about Youtube is going into India. North Americans alway try to block Indian suggestions - because Indians get 4X the money in North America. We will do the opposite because we aren’t interested in the money - so I’m interested to see how that goes. To be honest I’ve replaced TV with YouTube and did it years ago. From YouTube:


“YouTube is an open platform. Our values are based on four essential freedoms: freedom of expression, freedom of information, freedom of opportunity, and freedom to belong.”



But just remember that in that statement they never say anything about money - there is always that! We needed to be in other commercial platforms for our resume going forward and still do. In the end I’m fine with a platform I daily endorse with my time every day. I just want the Netflix rejection to come fast and hard so that we can be done with it! But I will ride that one out for my gang that still dream of being big shots in the media.




But in the end it’s the idea/concept and philosophy that matters and disseminating it - just keep our eyes on that mission.....



Goodnight.....






https://youtu.be/Q5rg_63Shqg
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Maurice Ali



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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 2:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A totally wasted weekend.


The backyard is cleaned up finally. Monday morning will see me try to catchup on the stuff I had planned. For me the reality of the end game is approaching. The planned events got scuttled by Covid 19 and everything on the advocacy front is in disarray. But this is life, you got the vital stuff done but fate robbed you of the rest. In the end everyone I grew up with - everyone - amounted to nothing really out of the ordinary. All those I thought were headed to greatness fell flat, physically broke down and died on me. The rest are retired.


Oddly, I’m the only one doing anything out of the ordinary; the guy who was written off..... But as I troll through everyone I knew in the past, they all amounted to nothing, just the usual lives. Nobody bucked the trend or created something new. Even I sometimes have my low moments but I have to remind myself that the positive mandate was only disseminated at the UN in 2019 - it’s only 2020 now! And even this year I still took a swing at the world wide vote in February. It’s not so bad, but I was on a real roll for a while.


Anyway, it’s just strange how life plays out. I note the general trend that those who play it safe don’t always have the most comfortable or satisfying life. Many aren’t even alive right now. It sure seems that you have to take risks to get the most out of life. We are all dead in the end anyway so why not take some risks. But that is a rant for another day. Suffice to say that planning for the safe sure thing doesn’t always work out.....


In other news:


It looks like The Brawlers and Lucifari are almost done. Then we move on to the others at the label.





To pass the time I have been following leaks and leakers at Apple and this year it is more entertaining. Just something as mundane as a press release for an Apple Watch and an iPad is looked at as something akin to industrial espionage with moles and leakers. There could be real money on the line when it comes to Apple, and telegraphed plans are big business if you know how to capitalize on them. So going through the minutia of it all was a blast and diversion this weekend. Expect an announcement on Tuesday from Apple.....



Goodnight.....




https://youtu.be/TrGvp1tET_Q

https://youtu.be/h8PLrkEXWnc
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Maurice Ali



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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 11:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another “do nothing” day. I did catch up with my tasks for the weekend on Monday so at least I did that. I did have some other ideas but it all got scuttled at the last minute.


Maybe I was a bit hard on my contemporaries yesterday - nah, they were hard on me so screw that! Having “screwed that”, how would my life be different if the FOF-IAIJ thing never was born?


Probably much the same except everything would be paid off and the cars would be nicer. Well the self-satisfaction would not be the same. But this would only have happened if I went down the other path but found out what could have been. So what did I give up?


I would have bought a Camaro SS before the fourth generation ended. I hated the 4.6 V8 in The Mustang of that era and the styling for some reason did not click, so it would have been the Camaro with the same shitty LT1 I got with my dad’s Roadmaster, so the same drivetrain but a different body. 2010 would be the next upgrade and I would have splurged finally on a Corvette Z06 to mark my 50th birthday. This would be the car as I always wanted as in a “big block”. So by 2020 it would have to be a Corvette C8. Now if I add up the figures taking into account the lowly Mustang I drive now, the money is about the same! So this is the alternate life I left behind. Would I have gotten married again? Slight possibility but I think I would have stayed divorced.



The Camaro I would have paid full price for but got the same car in a different form as a gift from my parents so it is really the two Corvettes I gave up.....



I think you know where this is heading. If I could turn back the clock and do it again taking the other reality I would have had the Z06 and maybe the new mid-engine Corvette by now? Was it worth giving up two cars? Of course - and in fact the different path is absolutely pathetic in so many ways. The cars could have been trashed during ownership dragging me back to a Mustang GT instead of the V6 Mustang I have now. This reality and the V6 Mustang - or - just a stupid Mustang GT with bragging rights that you once owned a Corvette. Plus, prices are low now so I could snatch that old Corvette Z06 in my present situation if I wanted. Hummm.....



My reality: Family car with sports car engine/sports car with family car engine!


I’m better having taken the risks and done what I did and continue to do. The previous post and criticisms stands! You only live once and you can’t get back those lost years, and since gone it is gone. To add insult to injury, most old farts don’t get the sports car of their dreams cause they can’t get in them anymore. I know it sounds funny but true. With stiffening joints and such getting in and out of a real sports car is tough as you age. The Mustang is low enough and you feel it in your knees as you have to swivel and fall into the car - getting out is another pain in the ass - and I’m in great shape. The Corvette is similar but even harder for those with arthritis and such. If married, trying to get the wife on-board to buy it means finding out if she can fit and get in and out of the car “with dignity”. Whenever you hear that term “enter and exit with dignity” they are talking about old people and cars. For young women it’s better but in my car women always tell me not to look at their ass as it’s “in your face” especially depending on what kind of clothes they wear - as they get out. But at least they can get in and out. What all this means is that even if I took the other path, I probably would have got the Corvette Z06 and the next Corvette would depend on my joints and female companion.



Don’t wear this traveling in a sports car!


So it could have been one really nice sports car - or this - so I’m better where I am. This was the first time I really looked at this so I’m happy at the outcome. The Mustang I have now is not so bad, it’s a man’s car. For women passengers it’s even worse than dismounting a motorcycle. Well except dismounting a motorcycle with a short skirt - everyone knows what type of underwater you had on in that situation. But the Mustang is low to the ground and has really long doors, so as you get out you have to stretch and give the driver an introduction to your “booty” and usually with some ass crack added in there as the motion pulls your pants down, actually knee length skirts are safest. Just a heads up when driving in a Mustang or similar car.....




Wear this traveling in a sports car!



On that note, goodnight.....





https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/viral/elderly-man-funnily-struggles-to-get-out-of-sports-car/vi-AAJGtl2
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Maurice Ali



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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Sep 10, 2020 8:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, a coupe of things.....


First I have now set things up for our stuff that was on Prime Video on Youtube if Netflix does not do anything with us. I did that on the weekend but didn’t tell you



Next,





Next is for those of you that have Apple Watches. I can sort of say that the outward design will stay probably the same as some x-rays (from a dude on Twitter that leaks parts) showed up at the end of August. That is if the picture was of an Apple Watch 6 and not the new cheaper variant to replace the Apple Watch 3. The guy says it’s an Apple Watch 6 and has a pretty good record - but nothing is a lock. His other tweet about the camera array got more interest but the x-ray if correct would seem to show a crown like the series 5 and not some radical optical sensor. The watch always could have an optical device in the crown but I’m not seeing it. So it should stay the same - but what do I know.....




My birthday is coming up. Time is running out. Humans could do so much more if we just had another ten or twenty years. The Fates gave me an extra seven years but is that enough? It always comes back to the same thing. The skeptic will criticize the world he lives in - but what does he have that is better? People have to live in a world and no matter what are your criticisms, if we don’t have any better ideas we have to stay with the flawed system as that’s the best we have. But I have a competing plan, concept/philosophy or vision for humanity. And this is precisely what is going on right now! The Fates want this all played out on the merits, they don’t want me stopping this challenge because I got sick and died. Everyone wants a proper ending. So they gave me a few extra years. We all want this to play out to a definite conclusion.








On a side note, my fellow half black and half Japanese entertainer slipped up and posted stuff in full Japanese! I love this! Now we are talking! It was peculiar but not out of character for you to embrace Black Lives Matter in Japan and congrats to that, but at the end of the day you are a born and bred Japanese girl with a bit of black mixed in. You can’t escape that and you are still living in Japan. Embrace your Japanese rights. Take care of yourself in your little corner of the world and make sure you let them know you deserve to be there and live there like any other Japanese citizen. You aren’t an American, you are Japanese. Use your talents in the entertainment industry to get your message out - there is always a way - be creative! We have a saying over here: “Just send it” or my saying: “Just send it - send it all the way up their ass!” But that’s just me.....




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/NBgA50jJ6VM
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 11:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A couple of things. First is that our office contract at ends later this year. Normally I just let it ride but the cost goes up every year and it is in Markham just north of Toronto at 15 Allstate Parkway. I can go the opposite way to - 1 Yonge Street at the old Toronto Star building for less than half the current price! At the base of “the longest street in the world”! We shall see but we are mostly an internet organization and most of the physical work actual happens at my house where one floor is used for the orgs. You usually see a bevy of young women “man” the reception desk there but the reality is that it is this old brown guy who is the real receptionist there - wonder who that is.....


https://fofentertainment.com/Anna_At_FOF_Offices.wmv




Anna “manning” the reception desk!




In other news.....






No rejection word from Netflix yet but we are still with Prime Video whether we like it or not. You can’t search for our shows but the pages and files are still there after all these weeks like this:


https://www.amazon.com/A-Positive-Mandate-for-Humanity/dp/B0829C93TK


No idea how long that will last and it may last forever, I really don’t care. We still have an account with them which may have something to do with it. Other cinematographers have just opened availability again just by pestering Prime to activate it - we won’t be doing that. But the shows are going to other places and probably in a week. I need to point to the videos at conferences I will attend and have them view the evidence which does not currently happen at Prime Video because it was only in the States and the UK. This is not about my resume as a cinematographer, but as an international advocate or philosopher which is the handle I prefer. Curiously my book is still at Walmart, that is bragging rights to have your book been in Walmart even through you can’t buy it now there. Videos on Prime and book at Walmart - I am The Man.....


https://www.walmart.com/ip/Positive-Mandate-for-Humanity/245188110





Goodnight.....






https://youtu.be/xdxVWFi2uaw
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