Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

Ok a quick update today…..






First of all - no side effects of the vaccine for me and dad so far. Be warned that unlike the flu vaccine these use real needles so if you are squeamish, then be forewarned. You do get a physical and emailed confirmation of the vaccine so if you need a vaccine to travel (the vaccine passport) you now have it.



I did get a start on the DVDs nice and early on Sunday and again was surprisingly well rested. I’m not looking for perfection but to get the basic four discs done and then debug and sweat the details. Five days before the cut off the files get uploaded no matter what. So that’s how that will work.


Talking with one of the directors this morning has us looking for journalists in our key locations around the world that have a IAIJ/FOF phone line. We will just add the IAIJ personnel that have a musical interest and grow inexpensively that way. More on this as time permits.



With vaccinations now happening I have to get ahead of things and plan the rest of the year. This is a positive sign - but remember that it is just planning. In a matter of weeks it is back to the global social contract!



Later…..

[Maurice Ali]

A bunch of stuff today!




Syse's album on Spotify!



First is that Syse is about to hand me a single maybe sometime this week so that is in addition to the two singles Lucifari says they will put out. So the record label is still alive unlike others such as Hydrahead which has a picture of a cemetery at night! I remember when they called it quits and were auctioning everything off including the head man’s desk. I would have kept that for myself - really, that bit of furniture is nothing but memories to you and only you.



Anyway…..


Since I’m the test mule for those in my neighbourhood who can still get the shot before they approve it for seniors and take it away - nothing, as in no symptoms at all after taking the shot. Many my age are rushing to get it as if it’s approved for seniors it get yanked from us. But with two weeks to go and blood clotting issues with the EU lot (ours are from India - many thought that meant second class but now they secretly endorse it and have signed up - quietly) I don’t see that happening so get yours now or wait two months or so.



What else…..


I figured out the subtitle issue and burning new ISO files to vet as I post this. Then more tweaking and burning actually DVDs then locking the ISO image files down! In an hour or so I will start on the DVD case files. Just get it up on Amazon’s servers as fast as possible. Then I have the positive mandate Bonus DVD with the first shows in their entirety and the variety show and other extras like music videos and such. Also: The Brawlers CD and if time permits- the old Electric for All CD that we actually ran out of.





Sam with the new Electric For All CD!




That’s enough for now. Do I feel safer with the vaccine in my system. I’ll be honest and say I’m a bit squeamish especially as more countries stop the use of it. However, intellectually I know this blood clotting won’t affect a healthy normal person. One vaccine scientist laid it on the table that if he was in an area like Australia that has low number he’s wait for a Pfizer, but if you live in an area that has Covid 19 (that means me…..heheheheheehe…..) then you take what you can get. So I’m being rational and using science to guide my choices, hopefully this gets some “fence sitters” near me to get the shot now while they can. They will still probably wait until 10 days to see if my blood clots and then it will be too late. Maybe it will change me into a zombie trying to bite people on the neck - really - it’s just a vaccine…..



Later…..





https://youtu.be/nHFNlVp64tI

[Maurice Ali]

Oh whatever, I’ll just punch this out.









So ——- It is now recommended here in Canada that the AstraZeneca vaccine be used for people 65 years and up.








This was a fear of many my age and they got their shot quick fearing the vaccines would be halted and shunted or the older folks as vaccines are in short supply. To mitigate the fear, it turns out blood clotting may at worst be a characteristic of the lot of vaccines being used in Europe and not here as ours came from the Serum Institute in India. Adding more to this is that the secondary shot to my group will be delayed by months - but for these traditional vaccines it means it may work on par or even better than the Pfizer - surprise!







So this last week has been a case study in emotions vs. science. I was always honest with you and quipped that my vaccine was a second rate vaccine which was unfair. I also started to feel the concern about blood clotting and countries stopping in inoculation of the AstraZeneca vaccine after I got it. But how a difference of a few days changes things…..






Over here, expect a mad rush - now - on the remaining vaccines! I think it will get really ugly as they just started to vaccinate those over 80 and guys like me will have to wait awhile as cases for a third wave mount and the more fearful variants become more common. If you let fear - vaccine hesitancy - rule you, your life is now harder than sticking with the science. You are now among the will of the masses now in panic mode. It is even worse for those out west where the AstraZeneca shot went to those in the mid-fifties to 65 and now those in the mid-fifties would have to wait even longer to get their shot.





It’s going to be an ugly two to three weeks as these vaccines run out as people panic. I’m glad I don’t have to be a part of that now…..



In other news…..



Membership requests at IAIJ are increasing and more music is coming out. I’m still rushing the DVDs out before that bit of manufacturing ends. Prime Video is now deleting indie films from established filmmakers. It is funny to see them a month ago claim that the purge of lesser material was probably a good thing for Prime - now that their stuff is disappearing you are seeing that smugness disappear. Funnily, their suggestion now to sell physical media is also off the table as Amazon is cancelling media on demand so indie filmmakers will have to make their own discs (and pack/ship them out) and hope they all sell (hint: they will not).


This all goes back to this idea of every one having their own website on the net - well the net instead, became a few huge platforms that everyone relied upon. Now policy changes have thrown them out to the curb and they don’t know what to do. This is what the internet has turned into. From the freedom of the internet in the early days - to platforms that will now make their users cower to any policy changes those platform overlords decree.


So - you have to come to this private site to read my blog. I would have a massive audience if I was on a major platform, but I would be beholden to their terms of service and I would self-censor to the whims of the masses and their politics and emotions. But better this blog here than someone editing what I say or deleting my account based on whatever policy they want….. Or that button anyone can hit to flag what you said and get you in trouble. So much for true free speech on the major platforms. You gave up that “right” for convenience…..



Goodnight…..




https://youtu.be/etviGf1uWlg

[Maurice Ali]

I’m bored…..


Ever wonder why there is a lot more matter than anti-matter? Why Einstein was wrong about quantum entanglement and relativity? How’s about the idea of infinity being a limit. That business of infinity as a limit nagged at me enough to check it out and yes the old equations about blah-blah as the limit as x approaches zero or infinity or whatever.





None of this has any relevance to humanity or says anything about how we should live our lives. When I was in university I was into finding the limits of our understanding - Epistemology. The usual as in limits, absolutes and the finite/infinite, etc.. I had a knack for calculus but had to find the limits of these systems and I found it in Godel’s Proof.


The Professor who taught the course was an actual student who worked under Karl Popper. He’s the guy that graded that paper of mine on Godel’s Proof. I was a different person back then. Better mentally than I am now. I could polish off a text book and two novels - or was it - two text books and a novel overnight (and regularity at that). Reams and reams of equations that probably mean nothing. I can’t make sense or of all that, now anyway.


This is the traditional idea you have of an intellectual. The dude preaching the positive mandate and happiness is the product of some uneducated “yahoo” - that is what you would think. I tried to figure myself out by what was happening outside of me, rather than within me. We are limited in our ability to understand our surroundings, but much more. Control and understanding with what is going on inside of us and what makes us happy became the better tactic. No professor is trying what I’m doing. They have too much to lose in reputation, standing among peers and as an ambassador of their university. I have none of that baggage, so I can make the plays they cannot. So make the plays, just keep at it - and I will…..


The singles by Micheal and his gang are nearing completion. Same for Syse and his single. I’m finished proofing our four original discs for the DVD box set and I’m including a fifth DVD with the variety show and the two TV versions of the original shows and the trailer for the TV series. That disc should be done by tomorrow and we upload it all over the weekend.


But the equation mathematical guy pivoting and embracing emotionality over the other stuff is funny if you ever see that dichotomy in action…..



Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/S-S4JpRkvUE

[Maurice Ali]

Man, are things getting busy in a hurry around here!



First of all at IAIJ I’m trying to get a worldwide screen shot from members about their experience during the pandemic. Our latest new member lives in a castle - yes a castle in Germany - so if you are interested in what a stay at home order is like for that guy you can find it here:


https://iaij.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1053



More new music coming up but let’s not forget the music just beginning to rock now. Like Tabitha’s/Rudegal Tab’s song “Wish List”! I have this song in rotation among my favourites on my iPhone. So if you didn’t watch the Grammies because there are no more universal hit songs anymore - then check out this song from a record label you know and an artist who jives to our philosophy. Check it out here:



https://youtu.be/Hs5aK5hqYX0



Seriously, that song could be on the radio as you drive home. And, we at FOF Records will do our best to get it out there. However, broadcast radio is on the ropes and the DJs have little discretion on what they can air. The music industry is very difficult right now. But don’t let that stop you from discovering the music your local artists are producing. They can’t play at local venues now due to Covid 19 - but you can at least give them a listen and support them by subscribing to their music - or god forbid - buying their music from places like iTunes!








What else…..



You may think the pandemic slowed me down but the advocacy is still a rock’in with me and IAIJ! The idea of a worldwide popular vote at the United Nations is a novel idea who’s time has come - but nobody wanted to be the poster boy or girl for that idea and become a pariah. Well I have nothing to lose so I took it on. We did a side event on it as my first act with consultative status. Then I tried to speak on the issue officially in February of 2020 but was stymied, but the idea was discussed among member nations big time! So while I did not speak publicly, the idea and concept was distributed and acted upon as far as I could see. Then last month our written statement - which was a written version of that speech a year ago - was entered officially at the 59th Session of he Commission for Social Development. So even during a shut down during a global pandemic - I saw my opportunities and took the shot - or as I called it: “made the play” - and did something the others were afraid to do.







I made the play, I took the shot, and I became a more toxic individual there. But only right is right! Like my businesses, I don’t need them to live. Thus a guy like me can’t be manipulated like all the others. I am free to do what others can’t do. I can do the right thing and make the plays they can’t.


Rules and customs are for the public. If you want to provoke real change that matters you have to do whatever it takes and pushing the rules and conventions and customs cannot be a barrier. You belong to a small group of people called “players”, and players know how to win. You have to put it all on the line to win. If I get tossed from the UN then that is fine as I made my plays that lead to it. I tried to make life better for all and I can go to my grave with no regrets. Even the people entrusted with enforcing the rules will let a lot go by as they discipline - because the world needs new ideas and they need to get tested at the UN. If you go to an office to get chewed out and the disciplinarian has their back to you as they look out a window - then he or she does not believe in what is coming out of their mouths - you will live to fight another day - the world needs people like you! But I do know how to win and I even have plaques to prove it, that doesn’t mean you will win - but it makes you a player! Anything can happen, the future is still open to me…..



Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/46rnghQxjxk

[Maurice Ali]

And - after talking about being a player and winning, we are back on the ground wondering what the future holds.….



I’m just one man and the idea was just to disseminate the ideas and have them become talking points. That actually a has been done on all fronts - as a beginning - but now I want to do more. I’d say it’s still an adventure worth keeping an eye on even if it gets more subdued. Again - who do you know trying to change the world in these radical ways? So even though life and responsibilities keep making things harder, you never give up and keep making those plays…..



In FOF land…..


Im now burning discs and finding issues and burning discs again. Then I will upload those files to Amazon and get it out there. Then I work on The Brawlers CD and any otter stuff we want in CD form before the end of the month. After that the Curtain falls on physical media around here. Make way for tomorrow - even if in the end it turns out you had a part in creating it…..



Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/AeKsY3Kg2OU

[Maurice Ali]

A quickie right now…..






I’m just proofing the five discs for the TV Series DVD and I want this finalized by the end of the weekend.





I’m also figuring out what to do about the World Bank in October. It should be a “go” and if I’m a betting man that would be a fairly safe bet. I have an idea to disseminate there that would be of considerable interest. So another go at making a speech, side event or panelist at their Annual General Meeting. This stuff is a competition and connections matter so I have my work cut for for me. But I have participated at the World Bank before and you just keep pushing for more influence there. I have the position and title, I have access and I have the idea - just make the play…..



Goodnight…..

[Maurice Ali]

The ISO files for all 5 discs sure seem to be done. One final check and then I start uploading them to Amazon. It’s funny that I had the shows and movies streaming on Amazon, the music selling on Amazon, the DVDs selling on Amazon - and soon only the books through Kindle will be left…..



It just shows you can’t count on anything even if it’s one of the biggest and richest companies on the planet - lesson learned! Also, just like duplicating the forums, doing the last DVDs ever gets you in this funk that the times are passing you by. This box set is virtually almost only for me, an affectation to the past and dying hobby of mine. Apart from Walmart and BestBuy, Sunrise Records is the last stand alone store still selling CDs and DVDS and now vinyl. I should check to see if the sole store in town is still in business. So it’s a bit of a metaphor on your life that the things you love are out of style and disappearing.



However, once we get past physical media we seem to be headed back to advocacy in a big way. Not just the global social contract but much more if they let me. If “they let me” is the word, so we shall see. So maybe I have to let the old stuff go, but the old stuff is what made you and what defines you. Even The Fortress Experiment is “old stuff” but is the basis for all the new stuff. You can’t escape time and it’s effects on you. I can still drive the Mustang but it’s designed for a young man. In short, I’ve been in another funk for awhile.



It will pass on regret with lifting of the pandemic restrictions and not dwell on it - shit happens - but I lost a lot of time I can’t get back. These days losing a year or two hurts and without the pandemic I may have been easing back a little bit by this time. That can’t happen now and it’s full throttle to the end, and because time is running out - it is more vital for me to focus on what I have to do…..


A little bit more.




Sunrise Records still open in 2021!


I checked out Bestbuy, no new straps for the watch and no five buck bin of DVDs. So that seems gone and may mean gone for good - or not. Sunrise Records is open and with a guy training new staff. I bought a Bluray and we talked about Amazon closing Media on Demand. He is still up for CD consignments - believe it or not! Talk about an old school record store - Don’t ever change…..



Goodnight…..

[Maurice Ali]

The TV Series DVD 5 disc set is being listed by Amazon as I type this!






This is good as in that I’m free of that project. Next up is The Brawlers CD but Syse has his single and artwork done and Lucifari has two singles basically done. Basically it’s just non-stop for me right now.


I’m still in a bit of a funk. Friends dead and others with chronic issues. Aging family and other responsibilities. I’m fine but all this has an impact on what you can do going forward. And Amazon squeezing me out of every money making proposition when it comes to media…..



I’m just going to forget about all that now and enjoy the morning. As you get older life just sucks even if you are healthy, vital, and with an open future still. It could be worse as all those my age it seems. However, you do look back at your younger years when you just lived for yourself and had safety nets if you messed up - now it’s all on you and everyone relies on you and you have no one to rely on as it’s all up to you now…..




Goodnight…..

[Maurice Ali]

You can now buy the five disc DVD set of our TV series “A Positive Mandate for Humanity” on Amazon:

[Maurice Ali]

Syse’s single is in review and so far no nocturnal emails indicating any problems so it may show up on the platforms at any moment.



The Brawlers EP!



The Brawlers and their CD are next. I’ll set up the title and upload the songs Wednesday morning and then start to work on the art work. These dudes are so old school that I have to do this myself, but as the last physical CD at FOF - I may as well do it!



The car is finally starting to leak rad fluid from the water pump regularity so maybe warrantee but I’m at the point I may just pay it myself and rid myself of the hassle.



Our show at night on the marquee of The Royal Cinema!


I’m just glad the second board is up and the series DVDs are out there. Media moves on but seeing my feature length film in a large old school theatre from the 1930’s was a rush! I don’t even know what the future is for these old theatres but I got my experience. I kind of like getting up at the screen and having a spot light on me as I introduced my film reading off crib notes on my palm. Things I wish someone would have take a photo of. Also seeing the curtains close at the end of the movie. Yes, they had full screen curtains close at the end just like in the old days. Buying popcorn and a Coke to watch your own movie - super cool! And one of the biggest was seeing your films on that big old fashioned marquee at the front of the theatre.





Of course, seeing your shows on network TV (and over the air via rabbit ears no less) is super exclusive nowadays and even Prime Video is getting to be an exclusive premiere platform now that indie is basically gone (all curated now).








Was it worth it? Yes, but I would not do this if married with a family. I had the freedom back then to take chances and apparently the talent to score with the opportunities, but for most I would just see disaster. Losing your child’s education fund or draining your retirement planning on a gamble is not worth it. It worked out sort of for me but I am not the typical story! Many contemporaries started business that quickly failed - I get it as you only live once. I met a guy who opened up a bar with inheritance money and ran it at a loss until the cash ran out; but he did it with found money and his eyes wide open, so who am I to judge.







You make the moves while still young and active to make them. You don’t want to be the guy or gal who scrimped and saved and never enjoyed only to enter old age with chronic illness, meaning you can’t enjoy the money you saved up - along with family waiting for you to die to “cash in”. Or old guys finally able to afford their dream sports car, but too old to get in it and out of it. Or the reflexes to drive it aggressively. I guess you could look at it. Or have someone help you in and out of it. Or have them place you in the passenger seat like a child and have someone else drive it. That was not part of achieving the fantasy! Me tooling around in a V6 Mustang kind or works as it was cheap, fast, and checked all the boxes of a real sports car when I was young:


Aluminum body panels

Independent rear suspension

150mph top speed (mine goes 157)



So I got what I wanted - just not the way I wanted it, but that may be the best deal you get in life. Anyway, enough of this…..



Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/iSjS-iCPeW8

[Maurice Ali]

Syse’s latest single (Carlito’s Way Pt. 3) is now on iTunes, Apple Music and Spotify. I’m thinking one more day and it should be up in all the majors. So the release should happen later this morning.


Lucifari’s singles are now mastered and all I have to do is download the song files and artwork. The Brawlers CD nears completion and should make it on Amazon before the deadline shutdown.


I’m still planning advocacy for the Positive Mandate for Humanity. I’ll be honest and say this is the best idea and code for life out there right now! There is nothing else as universally positive to everyone other than the positive mandate. Just look at the evidence:



I met Donald Brasseur in his eighties and basically he was a forgotten individual you would pass on the street as if he was a human pylon. You would think he was a burden on society, secretly many would not bother to lock down society during Covid to save people like him for a few more years. “Just let Covid rip and if it nudges some of the old folk to the afterlife - then what is the harm as they are half dead now anyway.


But through The Fortress Experiment and the Positive Mandate for Humanity this is what happened to Donald Brasseur in the last decade of his life:


Put out two music CDs!




Donald Brasseur (Right) and Maurice Ali



Got radio play of his music (AM740 for example)!

http://www.donaldbrasseur.com/DonBrasseurAM740.wma




Sue Earps (Director - IAIJ Inc.) presents Don Brasseur with his award!


Researched as a journalist a documentary about his WW2 experience in D-Day and his experience performing in the waning days of Vaudeville gaining him the IAIJ Award for Journalism!







Participated in a TV network (CTV) airing of the program “The Life and Times of Donald “Boots” Brasseur”!




"Boots" performing at Senior Star!


Was a finalist on the Senior Star competition that aired on Vision TV!

http://donaldbrasseur.com/Donald_Brasseur_Senior_Star.wmv






Participated at FOFSTOCK in 2011 three years before his death from dementia!



Any performer at any age would love to have a decade like that! Donald Brasseur performed at the highest levels up to his death at virtually 90 years of age. Who says his life does not matter!



This is the power of the positive mandate! Member nations know of this and are trying to ignore me. If we get traction, expect a campaign of “character assassination” to be levelled on me. But unlike so many others this will have little impact on me but it will further disseminate the idea into the hearts and minds of the people on this earth.


I laugh when the most popular reason to disagree with the idea is because a brown guy with a Muslim last name is pushing it. It’s bone - headed but if that’s the best argument against it - then I’m sitting pretty…..



Goodnight…..





http://www.iaij.com/Boots_Music_Video.wmv

[Maurice Ali]

Our latest single to drop…..

[Maurice Ali]

The Brawlers CD is now being listed on Amazon.com (always go to the US site for merchandise).



We should formally make the announcement tomorrow. Then on Monday I upload the two Lucifari singles - it’s almost too busy at the label. For Saturday and Sunday I’ll try to put the old but popular “Electric For All” CD back on sale at Amazon as we actually ran out of those CDs. Then I’ll keep going with maybe another CD for sale before the service ends. That will be a surprise though if it happens!



In a talk with Shane in Friday, we will keep the label going but not at the expense of the advocacy. So as we go forward I may start to relegate management to my gang and just concentrate on the stuff only I can do. But I still want to find that elusive NuMetal band with a female lead. Listening to Canadian talent late Friday night. One song “Gift of Death” by the American band “Iwrestledabaroness”. They broke up in 2016 and Canadian Courtney LaPlante is back in Canada with a band called Spiritbox. Now if you never see the lyrics and can’t make out there lyrics in the performance, you actually have art with a broader appeal than any genre they slotted them into. I literally want to scream at Courtney: “I can still make out the lyrics - scream and grunt from the body and not the brain! Pure guttural synchronization to to the music may be the purest form of music in my book. That form of guttural sound most identified with death metal is on the same level as scat singing as far as I’m concerned. So forget about the lyrics and message and just enjoy that which is primal - and that is what I find appealing in that music.


I have to get back to work. Actually, it’s not “almost too busy” but rather “too busy”…..



Later…..





https://youtu.be/45fvwFunaKE

[Maurice Ali]

And you know that I hate to defend Yoko Ono (but find myself doing so anyway) but she has a point. Like scat and death metal I want to push to the limits. Yoko got trashed by everyone for really doing a cover (Katie Perry) from her visceral self. I’ll have a link below but suffice to say you have to make a choice in the industry to give the masses - what they consider to be music - or do what our record label motto says “cutting edge music”. In the past giving the masses what they wanted made you money. These days with no real money out there - why would you strive to produce pablum?



The one thing to at will set us apart from AI and possibly sentient AI is that what comes from our visceral selves. Guttural noises not limited by lyrics, could that be the purest form of music? The problem is that we train our children not to embrace their visceral selves and only concentrate on rationality for example. I’m not saying we should have six year olds running around sounding as if they were possessed - but that the full potential of the human brain is not being utilized. We don’t have to think like a machine, we have computers to do that nowadays. The worth of a person should not be their error rate on the job - but their ability to create!



I have to get back to work, but like I said a few days ago, push new ideas and you will get panned as a crazy person. Just as Yoko…..



Yes, I’m defending Yoko Ono - dogs and cats living in harmony - peace on earth - blah, blah, blah…..



Goodnight…..








https://youtu.be/lrJz9Dh5MsM