Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

The weekend, and a weekend that I spend at home taking care of the orgs.



ZX/81 album on Spotify!



First is the payroll. Everyone at FOF is working from home as per federal guidelines as all corporations are federal. I’ll submit the PDFs to Sam and if she OKs it, I print them off with her digital signature and start to send them off. She has the final word and not me. Some musical artists will see their first payments from SOCAN! For some of the veteran journeyman artists this is a Christmas present.....



I have to update the websites and all of that. We are still doing things with all the artists we just released and now involved with CD production for The Brawlers and ZX/81. But I’m now working with Syse on his new album and that is priority right now. Even if Amazon lists it in their website nothing is getting delivered until the New Year. But we may get Syse in the digital stores before the end of the year.



Syse


I hate to say it but 2020 basically sucked. In advocacy the only fun was the plays between me and member nations last February but even then I didn’t get to speak which lead to the written statement to be entered into the proceedings next February - but that was it. I planned trips to Geneva and a booth at the WTO, no visit there and no delivery in-person of the Positive Mandate to the UN Institute for Social Development at the United Nations in Geneva. No trip to the UN in September when all the heads of state are there. No trip to the World Bank and IMF. My big mistake there was not doing a recon mission last year at the World Bank/IMF when I had the chance and invitation (really regretted that given what happened this year). However, nobody has a crystal ball and foresaw the pandemic - other than Bill Gates - so all of us should not beat up on ourselves for missed opportunities last year.



World Trade Organization in Geneva!



It does reinforce the idea that you take the shot when the opportunity shows itself because a second chance sometimes does not happen. Everything is fluid and changing, and nothing is static to play around with your life. We just saw an example of that this year. I’ll keep that in mind for 2021 - make the plays and take the shot if the opportunity shows itself to advance the advocacy.




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/0flXlWIT2V8

[Maurice Ali]

A late one but I spent Saturday and a good part of Sunday taking care of personal matters.



For the balance of Sunday I’m update some websites and contacting staff for the holidays.



A much more lengthy update later but this will have to do for now.




Later.....

[Maurice Ali]

Whenever I go quiet there is usually a good reason. Anyway Canada has stopped flights from the UK today in response to the new variant of Covid 19 that is now 70 percent more communicable. There just does not seem to be any normality with this virus. The data is not all in yet but higher communicability usually is traded off by less lethality. But in any case this is just a new real reality happening on the Covid front, that may sound strange but there is no better way to describe it.



As you know we have an office and director in London along with general members. I was talking to my gang there about the situation (one reason you got the abridged version this morning) and there is palpable concern especially as you get older and more immune compromised. France has delayed transport of food stuffs and there actually could be shortages in the UK in the coming days. The rest of the EU seems to be stopping travel there now, like I said it's a real reality.



Funny that with all of this going one, I still got what I wanted out of the UN before the whole pandemic came crashing down on all of us. Nothing exists in a vacuum and while uncertainty helps wild card people like me, it disrupts normal activities. So regular UN activities get shelved but my ability to advance my agenda gets opportunities if I am savvy enough to exploit them. That means that me making a quaint speech at the UN may not be the best strategy at the present time. I did disseminate all my ideas at the UN, that they can't take away, but there are many other things I can do with all this uncertainty to push the advocacy along. One is more traditional media interest in the ideas. Not much to show on that front and something I have to push myself into. It is aggravating and a pain in the ass to keep throwing yourself into new arenas - but it has to be done. I could be quite happy to get cozy with the other NGOs and when the pandemic lifts go to exotic places around the world to all sorts of conferences and stay in nice hotels and all of that, almost a nice lifestyle. But not for me as I have a mission to finish and I have to keep moving and not get tied down or comfortable. This is not a social evaluation for me, I don't care about numbers or likes or views, only about trying to change the world for the better in my own little way! But that one part is done and I have to move on. Move on with more responsibilities and restrictions as more people need me as time goes on. But that is life and the reason it is so hard to change things. I got some advantages but not all of them. The Fates have given me enough to act, self-determination but did not give me a blank check, I still have to work at it and try harder. Most of you will hate me for that but do you really want to change positions with me - I didn't think so. It is what it is.....


All that is rather dark, but I did mess around with the iPhone today. Check this out below as I had the LiDAR Scanner map out this room. When it’s done you can actually rotate the room in 3D - totally cool!







Goodnight.....






https://youtu.be/aXgSHL7efKg

[Maurice Ali]

So it’s Monday morning and all my gang have received their Christmas Bonuses. Next are the royalty cheques which we will send out during the next few weeks.





We will also finish up and get Amazon to sell those new CDs of projects we have just released but we are looking at like at least two months into the future before any deliveries can be made.


More lockdown restrictions today so nothing to buy that is interesting. Another reason I got the new iPhone. I will say that Apple accessories are a ripoff generally. The 40 dollar Tzumi SoundMates are similar to the AirPods with the exception that they are not as loud. The headphones with the 3.5mm jack sold for 40 bucks here and that jack would break if the phone fell from a coffee table to the carpet. Now I know one of the most frequent repairs for an iPhone was the old-fashioned headphone jack, so getting rid of it was not “courage” but cost of repairs. The new separate chargers are a ripoff and the extra packaging means they are polluting more of the environment than less. The chargers were sold out last time I looked. The new pro max headphones at almost 800 bucks up here in Canada is a total ripoff! The bands for the watch are cheap rubber that are uncomfortable in all models and wickedly overpriced. A 25 buck leather strap I bought is a permanent accessory and for the first time I forget the watch is on my wrist. It looks like the Hermes strap and the leather is holding up great.




A cheap 25 dollar strap works best for me!



So my advice is just knuckle under and get the phone or watch and nothing else. Get everything else in the aftermarket.



The actual cost of my Pro Max is about 800 Canadian mostly because of the extra memory and the 5G modem. That’s not really a ripoff all said and done as a ton of programming goes in there also. The stainless steel Apple Watch was a ripoff but I wanted stainless steel so I just took that one up the ass. It is want it is but that watch with a leather strap becomes a real watch for the first time for me and I used to be a bit of a watch collector back in the day. Watch guys grudgingly now admit the Apple Watch is now a watch, but like I say they only grudgingly admit it.....


Oh, and that criticism that you can’t multitask on the Pro Max - well yes you can’t but I had that feature in the Note 3 five years ago and never really used it (just like I never really used the pen). I you have that itch to try a split screen get the split screen browser and open apps from the web. It’s an overrated experience and with that itch scratched you can move on with your life. What matters to me is screen size, battery life and support, with cameras after that. That is why I got the Pro Max.



Anything else?







Yes! Netflix finally gave me my rejection letter 4 months late. But I did get the email:



“Dear Maurice,

Thank you for participating in our virtual Canadian pitch day, and for your patience as we worked through the Series submissions. The overwhelmingly positive response from the Canadian creative community reminds us of the quality and range of talent to be discovered and loved by audiences around the world.

Determining which projects to select for the next step in this process was not an easy task. After careful review and consideration, we have unfortunately decided not to move forward with the Original Series project you submitted.

Though it didn’t work out this time, we are truly grateful for the effort that went into your submission. Please accept our best wishes for your future endeavours.

Sincerely,
The Netflix Canada team”



I guess having it premiere on Prime Video did us in - in the end. Then finding it on YouTube was the final nail in the coffin - Netflix has standards.....Hehehehehehhe..... However, at least they replied!




Later....





https://youtu.be/7k5cEzDL0FM

[Maurice Ali]

Right now I’m racing against time due to the upcoming lockdown.




My humble but reliable car!


First thing was to change the oil in the car to Mobil 1 0W20. Normally I use 5W20 but when it really gets cold I just hate hearing all that startup rattle from all those cams and valves. So hopefully this quiets things down! Also, that rad fluid leak from the pump has stopped and been quiet for over two weeks. It never ends permanently but Ford won’t replace it unless it is chronic. Three and a half years in and a year and a half left on the powertrain warranty - the pump may just make it till the end. I can’t complain as I did not have a single issue other than the sporadic rad fluid puddles to even consider having anything fixed. Yes this car takes the crown as the most dependable car I have ever owned and driven.....



So I got that done early and the lube place looked closed but eventually someone noticed - but usually you have to wait in line and all the rest. This time the lube place was all mine from start to finish. Also realize that even if the rules say this place can be open, that does not mean they have to be open. So I got it done now. The optometrist I visited last week was actual inside the mall with no alternative entrance, and the malls close down Thursday night - so once again - I’m glad I got that out of the way. When the glasses arrive the optical store will be inaccessible but I should be able to get the glasses at the front door of their head office. And all those people lined up at the Apple store in the mall near my house every day - well good luck with all that.....



So the supplies are topped up and the Christmas presents are done. It’s back to the record label stuff now.....



And sure I know most of you come here for the advocacy stuff - but the pandemic really screwed that up this year so what can you do. For most it’s like: “Well if he doesn’t change the world why should I bother coming here listening to this old brown guy rambling incoherently.” They then go to Fabio’s Instagram account and then spend their time looking at him go to the mall. So for this blog it’s either change the world and I might keep coming here - otherwise - it’s Fabio at the mall..... And you guys wonder why I don’t care about likes and views - because likes and views don’t matter in my world. In Fabio’s world maybe the numbers work out and he gets real money on the side. That will not happen to me so I can’t be obsessed with changing my narrative to make me more palatable to the social surfing masses of fickle cancel culture trigger happy humanity.




Fabio in his prime!



I just checked - Fabio is the same age as me and he really seems to be hitting the wall! Maybe I’m competitive still - nah - we are just two old farts.....




Fabio at 61!




Later.....

[Maurice Ali]

The strange existence of my movies and TV shows in Amazon, Prime Video, and IMDb TV.....



So, as many of you know my movies and TV shows are now available on YouTube. Since they are advocacy and documentaries this is the obvious place for people to see the movies and shows as I try to get my concepts and philosophy out there.



But the path to YouTube is a strange one and even though we have left Prime Video we actually are still there and being viewed - just not being paid, and I guess this sits well with Amazon corporate (and the money was a pittance) so now I just put up with it.



The movies premiered on December 22 (2018) at the 400 seat stand alone Royal Cinema here in downtown Toronto. From there it went straight to Prime Video in 2019. In 2020 it then went to IMDb from Prime Video due to censorship issues at Prime Video. IMDb is owned by Amazon which also owns Prime Video, so you have this strange funk where you still have webpages for the movies and shows on Prime Video but they say they are not available in your region, but those same movies and shows can be streamed in HD off the IMDb website which is also Amazon. Also IMDb and Prime share shows as promotion - its all screwed up for a director/producer/distributor like me. If you search for my shows on IMDB TV from Canada, they appear on the IMDb TV pages with the trailer above the full movie and none of the IMDb database info - as if you wanted to watch the show from IMDb TV! It’s as if the material was on IMDb’s TV platform anyway and it very well may be. You should get the database page but instead I got the trailer and full movie ready to stream - as if it were on a streaming platform? Just check out the full web page I got!






All this happened as Amazon recognized FOF as a legitimate media distribution corporation and as such allows us to stream our content on IMDb if we want. You can’t upload full movies and shows (or even trailers) on IMDb unless you are a true distributing corporation.



So we never really left Amazon, leaving Prime Video was just a technical name change to IMDb, but without the censorship issues. Even our DVDs and CDs are on sale at Amazon. All our stuff can now be streamed off Amazon servers without regional restrictions - a huge advantage for us - so this aids advocacy tremendously.



We slipped through some cracks and it works for me. Most people just see our stuff on YouTube, but I played Amazon better than almost all the other filmmakers. When Amazon does anything to them they just have to take it up the ass - well this brown guy played it better than the others.....



Having said all that, I do love watching the kids getting into film making - even though most don’t stand a chance. To have a career in film you have to go to a recognized film school, and then work your way up the traditional commercial channels as a director or up the union jobs for everyone else. I even have union Instagram accounts that I follow. This is still the only way. Nevertheless I love watching those in the fantasy world of indie production buy an outdated 10 year old Arri Alexa cameras and run around shooting video of projects that will never see the light of day (probably lots of sex for everyone involved also).


My venture was advocacy and our first show played on the number 2 network in Canada (Global TV on Channel three on cable and “rabbit ears” for those old farts here and played right after Saturday Night Live). My second show was played on the number 1 network in Canada (CTV - daytime programming BTW). My movies premiered at one of the largest theatres in Canada (bigger than most IMAX). All my shows and TV series streamed at Prime Video and then IMDb and finally also on YouTube - and not just entertainment - but advocacy to help make the world a better place. So there is a difference, but I still envy these people having fun for fun’s sake and screwing like rabbits the whole time. That didn’t happen here as we are legitimate corporations running under federal labour laws. You can’t have it all....


Anyway I just had to get that off my chest.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

Well Christmas Eve.


We all would like a better circumstances. We all would love our freedom. But life is never lived as planned. For me the prime directive originally in high school was to get married, have kids and then the rest was gravy. When I was an actual kid it was being a man of the world, which I now realize was incompatible with being a husband and father.


I did get married but divorced before kids and that gave me my shot at “man of the world”. So that’s what has been going on with me and so far things have worked out. But life is not a TV show and as you get older things get more complicated as you shoulder more responsibilities. You could shirk those responsibilities but at the end of the day you have integrity and like most you just add it to your life and suffer a little bit more. People around you don’t want to be a bother but life does things to them and they can’t function on their own and you get involved. Then there is just the usual crap that get thrown at you as a matter of course.


Life has a way of testing you, you fret about things only to find out later in life they all were meaningless as the end of your life approaches. My advocacy has such a small sliver of opportunity but I went with it and we are still pitching. That is just how things happen - aim for a few big things to go your way - and pay for it in many small crappy ways that are not chronic. Good and bad luck is a balanced equation but I pay for the big scores with lots of crappy little bad luck. I got some big good luck that I will keep secret and now comes all the little bits of crappy bad luck. It’s works out - you will see.....



I look at Christmas as just a snap shot or realization of life on the home front. Outside of family like the advocacy, the snapshot happens after the event happens. When you score you never really appreciate what just happened, like a personal best in athletics - you don’t know it’s your personal best until you can’t get there anymore. Always after the fact - then you realize that was your finest hour.



BTW: there is no finest hour for bad luck. It’s just a bill to be paid to achieve the other stuff. Or like the saying goes: “To plant and grow a beautiful rose, sometimes you have to shovel a lot of shit” I guess I should have ended this at the previous paragraph.....Hahahahahaha.....



Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays.....




Maurice

[Maurice Ali]

Miscellaneous ramblings.....



1. Got my folks a new smart TV and because it’s in a TV where they watch their usual shows, all of a sudden my stuff is now worthy of being watched. The new TVs have built in wifi and our router is like two feet from this TV so uninterrupted web browsing and viewing. But nobody browses in this thing but just hit the Netflix or YouTube button and start watching. It gets to the point where they were watching my movie and I was getting bored as in I watched it like 2000 times already. I just left them and went downstairs to watch something new. Seeing YouTube on the TV presents just as well or better than the usual broadcasts as we have one huge TV that shows HD and old but valid secondary boxes in SD. They will still watch their stuff in SD then come across my stuff in HD and are impressed. I can’t make this stuff up.....


2. In November Apple praised the hell out of the iPhone 12 Pro Max and for the first time used “influencers” to push the product and got the devices ahead of time. They of course praised the phone and how much better the camera was especially in low light and how much more stable the video was. Then Apple ran out of Pro Max phones due to demand and component shortages. Back orders were as much as a month in the future. When I switched carriers the girl at the store told me how lucky I was to have a Max as they were all back ordered at the time. In terms of demand the MAX was twice as in demand as the smaller Pro and both of them were more popular than the regular iPhone 12. Apple upped the manufacturing of the iPhone 11 to make up for the shortages and all of a sudden the “influencers” wanted to return their Max phones for smaller ones including the Mini version that Apple can’t seem to give away. They couldn’t come up with real reason apart from size and so used that as the reason. The fantastic “5G experience” became “you don’t need 5G now - besides it drains your battery”. Anyway the Max is better than the 11 Max with deep fusion and night mode on all cameras instead of one and with better video stabilization and light gathering abilities due to larger sensors. It’s the same size and weight as the 11 Pro Max and the same size as my iPhone 6s Plus that it replaced. The turn around is just to steer people to buy stock they now have and keep money coming in.




look at the size of ——— those cameras!



3. I’ll write a report about internet algorithms on social web sites and news feeds and why these should start to be regulated in order to give consumers a more balanced news feed that they can then make decisions on their opinions. This applies more to the older folk who just took traditional journalism and its two sided objectivity for granted not realizing the new forms of news feed are biased buy commercial design. Something has to be done here and what is happening in the States is just a foreshadowing of what will happen elsewhere. If I can disseminate it at the United Nations during WSIS the effort may be worth it! It really is no different than the shenanigans happening at Apple but with some unintended political ramifications on all sides of the political spectrum.....


4. I had to walk from my dad’s house to mine this morning and now realize why some Asian folk wear their masks outside during the winter - it’s warmer with it on your face! Yup, call me converted but when I have blowing snow in my face the face remained warm with my pandemic mask on. This was better then the hidden pullover face masks with hole for your mouth and nose that rendered them useless. The masks actually work perfectly - who would have known?



Oh, I forgot, what did AI get for Christmas: small things and money but I treated myself to he FilmicPro app bundle now optimized for the iPhone Dolby 10bit video. This allows me full control of the main camera as well as other iOS devices like my old 6S Plus and the watch. That’s for video, and for photography it is Pro Camera. I’m really weaning myself of the big camcorders. Ours are used up and out of date and any new projects will get rentals unless we stupidly undertake several years at a new documentary - hint - not going to happen. That old Canon XH-A1 got used for 14 years! Incredible and the video even in low light was fabulous! The even older Sony PD170 only gave us four years but got us on broadcast TV networks. The new iPhone with all the other stuff and phones should give me better video than before with the exception of manual zooms. We now work on audio solutions but that is our workflow from now on. So even though I spent 2,300 on the phone, it is far cheaper than a new camcorder. This purchase worked out for me! Plus I didn’t suffer any first adopter hardware issues, a good thing as these Max phones are in short supply.


Later.....

[Maurice Ali]

With Christmas over I have time to play with things.


I still have to mail out royalty checks but that will be on ongoing thing. I still have two days off so I'm fooling around with the video on the iPhone and I'll be honest with you, the cell phone cameras are better than my old shoulder mounted JVC camcorder, my old SonyPD170 and the HD Canon camcorder (XH-A1). Yes better and using teeny tiny sensors to boot! Filmmakers are already looking at the differences - if there are any - between the iPhone Pro Max video and cinematic 6K camera like the Blackmagic Pocket 6K. For these comparisons you are shooting in Dolby HDR and using Filmic's app on the iPhone. I use Filmic on the 6s plus and the Max for remote use but also have Filmic on the Watch just in case I need that remote trigger. So Filmic for video and Pro Camera app for photography.




my iPhone 6s Plus used as a remote for the Pro Max!



Now, you may think this is the land of geedkdom, but nowadays all those young Instagram stars and influencers in the making are taking the photography much more seriously and using the latest and greatest iPhones, but usually for photos and not videos, those videos live in the realm of TikTok filter universes. But for cini-film the new iPhones hold their own, and of course they are a bit too colorful and over sharpened by default - but that is user preference. For serious work the settings are much more flat and you do the scaling/grading in your editor. But it is amazing how good the Max camera is at matching film with much more expensive cinematic setups and even stabilization handheld! So no regrets on that purchase and I am now playing around with everything.....



I am also watching movies. I bought a handful of one dollar DVDS at a convenience store going out of business. So I bought 4 DVDs, one had no DVD (Sweeny Todd); another movie (Transcendence) had a crappier movie in its place (Prisoners). The worst was Alien Tornado that was just recorded off the SYFY channel with the logo always on the screen - one dollar videos! But there was one of the lot I actually watched end to end and liked and that was "The Woman" and another bootleg video with no markings on it like all the others. It's a dark horror basically art-house movie that played at Sundance but only made a little under 1,500 dollars. But the movie rocks if you view it outside popular conventions and I'll leave it there as it is gory and has cannibalism and all the other tropes of the genre. I didn't know it until the final credits, but "The Woman" or feral woman this family found is Pollyanna Macintyre of "The Walking Dead" fame. I you liked her there you will like her here and for the guys she spend lots of time totally nude in this movie before she got recognized. Actually, if you watch The Walking Dead you will be desensitized to the gore of this movie and will just watch it as a movie. Lots of controversy at Sundance though, with people walking out and one dude telling everyone the whole thing was sick at the end. Funny thing is if you think this is female exploitation - then realize that Pollyanna took over as director of the sequel to that movie (Darwin) for 2019 (I guess she liked how it turned out and probably the reason she left The Walking Dead). Anyway that made the purchase worth it with all the other shenanigans that went on with all the other videos. You are better off getting the five buck Wal-Mart videos because at least you know what you are getting.....



Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/zfD9lm-FoYs

[Maurice Ali]

Well the only thing of note during the Christmas break was dealing with my dad and rolling back some problems with his memory. If you are my age taking are of your folks you know all about that.....



Aside from nutrition and getting out on a regular basis, one of the biggest changes was turning on all the lights in his house. Prior to this his place was this dark dungeon of sorts but turning up the lights during Christmas has turned things around a bit along with the other stuff. My take on this - and there is a lot of medical evidence that it helps - is that more light means more sensory activity entering the brain and so on. Living in the dark dulls the senses and all the rest. If I come across anything new I’ll put it out as an in-depth report and disseminate it. I wouldn’t mind disseminating ideas to universities for others to develop or getting the word out through larger news agencies. I can’t get comfortable as an NGO at the UN, I have to keep pushing into new areas where we can disseminate new ideas. Dissemination via “hit and run” tactics. Nothing negative to those NGOs at the UN, but I have to increase the scope of the organization’s reach. I can’t get complacent - so that’s what’s been going on there. Anyway I have been doing things lately and not really posting it here as it’s not really stuff about the orgs - but things are still happening in my life. So some good luck here and I’m sure I’m in for some bad luck elsewhere.....







I’m also looking for more help with the record label. I only have so much time and energy. But as I send out the royalty cheques I already have some candidates. They may not accept but they - year after year - show the get up and go needed to survive in the industry. They just keep trying! But try as they may, making an organization viable to really call it an organization takes time and money - let me spell that out: MONEY!!!!! Maybe you think you have what it takes, but the fact is you need money to make it grow. FOF Records is already established with a catalogue in the hundreds, so why not get involved and take this thing to the next level as the pandemic subsidies? Just putting that out there - you know who you are.....







I got a package from UPS yesterday so I’ll open that up Monday afternoon. I may also send out some royalty checks in the mail instead of personally as it’s still COVID 19 time. But Christmas break has been relatively quiet. I’ll also preen myself up for the shortened week, I always let myself go during the holidays.



Later.....

[Maurice Ali]

It’s back to the usual.



The new and improved Fortress Experiment DVD in the flesh!


First of all is that the new and improved DVDs arrived and they look beautiful. I think I will leave it there and move on to the TV series DVD pack. Then be done with commercial video for a while.




The new and improved Fortress Experiment DVD in the flesh!


Monday had me delivering royalties and boxes of CDs to people in Toronto. Tuesday will see me mailing out more royalty checks to artists in the FOF stable. I’m looking first in that pool of performers for those musicians interested in taking an active role in the label as we see if we can handle medium sized outdoor concerts and small venues by well known acts in the Niagara area. We have a chance here when the pandemic fades as we are one of the few left standing and have the structure and resume to get sponsorship for events. But I am not putting up my own cash going forward. And this will not be a one man show, we need dedicated people to make this happen. Even if it’s just a once a year music festival - I’m fine with that. So I keep looking.....



I also saw a movie called “The Book Thief” that was a Nazi WW2 low key movie. The dialogue was German and then English with German accents. It had an effect of reminding me that I once spoke German. In fact the first words out of my mouth were German, and English as a young child was a second language. Yes I know - it’s bizarre but that was my childhood.....



For Tuesday I preen myself up a bit and put all those remaining CDs back on the pallet in the storage room.



Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

Well record label stuff today.....






One question: Why are a bunch of my artists out of the country as Covid rages on? And I’m not talking about one! So if your are one of the gang don’t feel guilty or bad as you have plenty of company.



I was going talk about a whole bunch of other stuff today but this got my attention and I had to vent. F**k! Anyway, it is what it is. One of my gang - in Mexico right now - has confirmed he’s in for the post-pandemic FOF Records. We shall see about the others. As for the others: Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on because I do! I may be old and senile - but not that senile - yet!




Later.....

[Maurice Ali]

I wanted to get more introspective but the music keeps pumping!








First is that I got a shipment of Lucifari CDs dropped off at my front door. They are the same quality as our first CDs made in bulk back in the day (2005) so that business model moves forward. Not only CDs but the same music but now in Dolby 5.1 or Dolby 7.1 with 4K music videos and background documentary shorts on a blu-ray played on those superb in-home theatre systems that are now all the rage during this pandemic. This is now possible from our association at FOF Entertainment Inc. and Amazon. As the pandemic mitigates, the record label and the other corporations at FOF will strategically place themselves to take the place of the formerly stalwart corporations that used to be in existence and then fight off any newcomers in a bid to consolidate our position in the Canadian market as one of the dominant players in the Canadian indie scene.....




Later.....





https://youtu.be/9LYEbWnxzYc

[Maurice Ali]

A new year - plus no New Years resolutions......



No resolutions cause you need to know what the playing field looks like to make those resolutions and right now it is all just a question mark! The music I can control during a pandemic so even now we will have at least two releases for 2021 very soon!



The advocacy is way up in the air. Maybe I will go to the World Bank/IMF this year if they invite me. Maybe also the WTO also at the same time. Who knows? February looks alike a disaster with us spiking higher and higher right now. It is what it is.....



Other things?




Switching to 0W20 for the Mustang was a good move as I don’t have that “death rattle” at startup in cold weather anymore. No more concerns there. When the weather really starts to get warm I’ll go back to 5W20 or even 5W30 and make it the routine from now on.




I’m totally satisfied with the iPhone Pro Max in Silver with 512 gigabytes of storage. Every sensor has Dolby HDR, Deep Fusion, and Night Mode. The larger main sensor means it has to get darker than the regular phones to have Night Mode kick in. I was watching this video where the guy claims the photos all look the same across all iPhone 12 models. Comparing low light shots he kept complaining that the Pro Max would just quickly snap the shot as it didn’t need night mode and he kept turning down the light for it to kick it. Listen dumbo: The fact the larger sensor can take the shot without night mode proves it is better right there! It gives you a better image with less noise and processing. And one second to take the shot instead of three seconds! Man what a moron! I suppose he finally got his processed night mode shot and claimed it looked the same as the others - you can’t fix stupid....hehehehehe..... The Pro Max is the best performing iPhone ever and has double the demand of the regular Pro model. So much so they are always out of stock, and Apple is now using “influencers” to now change demand from the Pro Max to “buy anything but the Pro Max” as Apple needs to keep money coming in. So the influencers now have videos with face palms and why they are returning the Pro Max phones because it’s too big and the photos all look the same. Maybe - just maybe - buy last year’s iPhone 11 (as Apple has now ramped up production of iPhone 11s to keep new phones on the shelves due to demand and component shortages)? Influencers now claim 4G now is faster than 5G. Better battery life with 4G - I wish was making this up but I’m not.....





Yes you can polish this to like new condition on the white Pro iPhones (with the naked stainless steel finish only!



Also the Pro iPhones have stainless steel frames but in the coloured ones the colour coating seems to be scratching and chipping off. I just got the plain white model with naked stainless steel that will scratch more but can be polished out. He who laughs last - laughs the best - and I’m now laughing!



Oh, about a month and looking for clues the car is leaking rad fluid. I saw two spots at my dad’s place but they may no be mine. I always check as I back out and at my garage it’s dry. If it does not get worse I may just live with this as there are no other issues with the car. And you know the saying: “If it ain’t broke - don’t fix it!”



I’m also waiting for word about my new glasses. Almost the most expensive glasses you can buy. They have to be flown in by plane from Germany. The pickup when I get the call with the new COVID 19 rules mean a door at the store will open and someone will toss the glasses (hopefully in a case) at me and then I’m on my own. But I am glad I bought the new phone and glasses last year as I may travel this year and that is always expensive.



For Jan. 1 (2021) it is working on the music and then a movie probably when it starts to snow.



Happy New Year!





https://youtu.be/NZhVSdHcLjw

[Maurice Ali]

So anyone who thought good riddance to COVID 19 in 2020 is living a pipe dream.



It’s only recently that people around me started to notice that people they know were getting sick. Prior to this it was that we never knew anyone around us that had it. This is all due to Christmas and they lose their ability to taste and smell first. Well that is the start of things and good luck and hope you don’t die and all that. Probably another smaller spike in three days for New Years Day as you can’t fix stupid. Along with the travellers where it was not essential travel. All coming back with the latest variants and coughing up a storm.



It’s too complicated to go into here but if you are young and catching COVID you may end up a death statistic more than you know. All sorts of other treatments and surgeries are being impacted but the surge of COVID 19 and that kid your same age with leukaemia or needing a kidney transplant or whatever, is in hold and they may die waiting - thanks!



There are unintended consequences to everything you do and a selfish act on your part may come back to haunt you - karma - as other selfish people don’t think about you just as you don’t think about them - think about that.....



Anyway, I’m still doing music stuff and I have to update those copyright notices to 2021 which is a royal pain! It snowed last night so I’m not going anywhere till late afternoon. I have the sneaky suspicion 2021 may work out for me so I expect tons of - hopefully - small bad luck to foist itself on me. Anyway that’s my problem.....



Just make the plays while you can. Nobody helps you because they hate the fact it is you. All due to the primitive natures that reside in all of us. If I was born White it would have been much easier, but if I did grow up White then I would be just like my white schoolmates and would never have undertaken all this advocacy as everything is going fine in this alternate life. So it is what it is.



Meanwhile in quantum computing, there seems to be big strides in development while we all fume about the pandemic. Everything around you is in flux and the ground beneath your feet is shaking more than you know. The positive mandate for AI has a real purpose even though my first advocates may be to sci-fi conventions than scientific conferences in Russia. All in good time but my reputation won’t prevent me from disseminating the idea - because - I have no real reputation. I do have access, so going forward is still an open future. Even at my age I can still bend some rules of aging. They aren’t permanent but The Fates has given me a few more years.




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/fn3KWM1kuAw