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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 1:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well crap - I broke another tooth.....




What has this to do with the advocacy? Well it puts everything on hold. Something didn’t feel right about that tooth for weeks but I thought it was the filling going bad and compressing a bit when I chomped down on something hard. But in the end it was the tooth and a corner of a molar came off while eating an apple. I actually thought it was a seed - but no, part of my tooth!



What to do? Were dentists even open? Turns out my gang started up on Monday so I called them up. I was lucky - as there was a sunami of appointments of people living with cavities and broken teeth during the pandemic now wanting a fix - but I got late Monday. So we will hope the filling stays intact till then. They also have new protocols in place so something new at the dentists office when I arrive!



What else.....




More of the mall opened up - and - I saw my first power walker doing laps. Wow, thing must be getting back to normal! I did go to Starbucks with open doors and a young woman wearing a mask to geeet you. I didn’t use the drive through as I wanted to eyeball the making of the mocha and make sure nobody coughed in it. I do go to a McDonald’s yesterday for a Quarter Pounder with cheese but again inside watching the burger being made. And that is the new normal.



Anything else.....



Updating people reminds me how lucky I was to attain the General Assembly speech and hanging out on the General Assembly Hall along with the vote back in 2015. It empowered me not to fear anything there. I want to speak at that green marble lectern and almost did. I fear nothing and nobody there. I truly believe I have something on them as well as good ideas that need to be vetted and voted upon. When it comes to ideas, I am in an equal footing with member nations! I gave up the good life of a single man for this as I found nobody - and I mean nobody - doing what I’m doing on the scale I am attempting. It is on you in other words! That is how you feel so you have to do this - you have no choice. It can get rough and uncertain, but who else is there to change things. You are there because you are there and belong there! This does not mean people will embrace change. Old Black people looked at the end of slavery with fear as they had it planned out and are now in their own and vulnerable. So expect it to be hard and a push back, but less so from the youth. Even though my ideas lessen pain and hurt on a massive monumental scale, there will be resistance.




This is what I ate at the UN cafeteria!



My saving grace is I did it all on my own. I owe nobody anything and still operate by my own will. That is what you need at places like the UN. Most orgs owe backers and such and this tempers truly provocative action. I can do whatever I want, so this means I have a chance to change things. I have to keep reminding myself of how rare this is as you get used to it and take it for granted. But you need to keep reminding yourself of what matters in the end and it isn’t cars/girls and money. Lots of philosophers would want to be in my
shoes just for the chance of disseminating new ideas and concepts and philosophies to the world like I am. I keep forgetting how much they see this as a plus because I have been in it for years. So yes, for now I am the one in this area of advocacy and can do things the others cant - man, this now sounds like the plot of a movie - oh wait - we did make it into a movie..... Which reminds me we have to make a trailer for The Fortress Experiment. Then I don’t have to use other movie clips as an example!




Later.....






https://youtu.be/cqxwtEdxOCw
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2020 12:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A quickie.



Toronto is still in lockdown but a few blocks north of where I live everything opened up today. So up north I went. First Starbucks: Only change was seeing two women sipping coffee together on a table outside and around the corner was one woman sitting down by herself. You still can’t sit inside - what was I thinking? Next was Markville Mall opening up at 11:00am instead of the usual 10:00am. There were actually long lineups to get in. I dodged those lineups and wandered around the mall which looked like a ghost town. 11:00 and they actually made an announcement welcoming people back which actually was kind of heartwarming.....







I’ll admit I had an ulterior motive and sat at the Bell phone store to change a 15gb plan for 20gb plan for the same money (you can’t do this online). It took 44 minutes but I now have the new plan. I was lucky as they only were allowing two people in the store at a time and Bell was the only cellphone store open today! So about 15 other providers were not open - what the f**k - but it worked out for me. They ask you the usual Covid 19 questions before you enter. (third time for me in less than 24 hours so get used to it) then wearing masks and plexiglass shields at counters. And forget about fondling phones on displays as there were none - only empty holders.






So the grand reopening was less than I thought. And everyone everywhere was wearing a mask. So it was not back to normal, but having scratched that itch, nibbles at the forbidden fruit of an open mall - I can now go back to Toronto and wait for the numbers to truly go down. Not just the new infections but total infections which at this time seem to be dropping about 200 a day from maybe 2500 total. I can now wait a bit for Toronto to reopen - been there and done that.....




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/Dc0o6Cs96Kc
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 3:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Really late but I took a Siesta.....




Jason Epp



The Lucifari album rolls on with a new contributor/band member - a musician called Jason Epp! There will be others including Shane it seems. They asked about me for some lyrics, but I stay out of the creative process.....



The Black Lives Matters situation is running out of steam. The most positive result back in the 60s that worked was more Black police officers. But this was never mentioned this time around. Interesting.....



Everything seems stagnant and stuck - the pandemic - but it still sucks. Without the pandemic I would be flying around the world promoting the positive mandate. Things here would be interesting and exciting. Instead we are just muddling around waiting. This was not planned for, it just happened like it did for everyone else. It just sucks and I’m not getting any younger. We will just have to wait till late summer when we roll the dice for a truly big score.



Later today I have to buy my dad his Father’s Day card. It sucks that I don’t have kids but that is there way it is and looks to stay that way. If the Positive Mandate takes hold though, then all the kids are mine. There is always that! Every last one of them, but only The Fates know how all that will play out. It is sort of comforting that having a kid meant that everything I have done here would never have been done. The money would have gone to the family, there was no other way. Time will tell.....



I thought they screwed up my phone plan for the 75 bucks for 20GB but they didn’t. I was talking to a guy at Bell I assumed was from the Philippines, but he turned out to be a Philippine guy living in Edmonton - and from my own area! Everything is good as the plan ended a while ago but they gave it to me anyway in the end. A Philippine guy in Edmonton (and I tested him) - Wow!




It’s so late in the day I can actually say: Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Jun 21, 2020 7:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What do we think about the smartest people in the world? And what do the smartest people in the world really think about the rest of us?



How do we judge who is the smartest? Usually that which is hardest for ordinary people. So you get people who are great at math and people who have a fabulous memory but is bettering what ordinary people can do or find hard to do really the proper metric! What about child prodigies that read and write as babies and get into university at very early ages. They are considered very smart yet only have the abilities of the ordinary, just at an earlier age. But, what about people who can do things ordinary people can’t do at all? They would probably be considered insane - unless their abilities could be brought back to the realm of the ordinary by strategic advantage or monetizing something ordinary people could understand.








So someone prattles about slippages in our reality. His thinking does not match ours and his rational is irrational. He is considered a nut case. But what if he gets the idea to work in our world and people can slip in and out of our
reality into another and back! Even if no one else fully understands it, he is Christened the super genius of our time and goes down as a famous person in the history books.....



But if he or she can’t bring his or her ideas back to the ordinary folk, he or she would be in some insane asylum or living on the streets. Or maybe they just hide their abilities and live a double life with just this constant disdain for ordinary people.



Does anyone ask the so called smartest people who they claim to be the smartest - and by what metric? Is it proper to choose the smartest as the baseline to crown who is smartest - or - can that only be done by the judgement of the ordinary. This becomes important when ideas are to be vetted for use in our society. If the guy with a simple but effective idea that changes the world and understood by all, is effective in that implementation - is he smarter than the talented person who’s has truly unique ability but no way to use it in everyday life. One person has nation states accepting or ridiculing his ideas - and another is living in some traveling carnival using his abilities at some supernatural side event where even the actual “event” may be a fake.



Who is the real judge of it all.....





Goodnight.....






https://youtu.be/qsDD93pSppw
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2020 7:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A funny thing happened today:







So sooner or later this book may be able to be purchased at Walmart - I don’t know what to say but it is interesting.....




In other news, my broken molar gets looked at today. Dental work during the pandemic. We will all just have to get used to this until the virus mutates to a less lethal form or is eradicated. That happens later today. I did watch more movies on the weekend. I watched Jack Reacher: Never Go Back which was “ok” but nothing memorable. Then an old one called The Big Lebowski which I really liked. I even bought more DVDs which seem to have received a stay of execution as a medium with the pandemic.







This is Markville Mall on Sunday which was the third day open. Stores are opening up and there are signs at entrances indicating when the remainder will open. The most bizarre one was walking into The Bay department store. Mostly the same but only one entrance and exit to the mall. Cosmetics behind sheets of plastic and so on to prevent contamination of the product as who wants to decontaminate all that lipstick!







Best Buy has a different procedure having everyone wipe their hands with hand sanitizer before entering and that allows them to have product you can touch. It was months before I was in an electronics store. I celebrated this return by buying a bluray of “Ford vs. Ferrari” which I’ll watch next weekend. Some things familiar and some things changed. Why am I documenting it here? Because years from now it would be cool to see world events at home and what that looked like. It has changed the way I am advocating for sure so it is relevant. Anyway this weekend was laid back. Stuff is starting to happen again though.



The funny thing about this blog is that even though this year started off with the last aspects of the book being published, launching a TV series, signing up recording artists for new music and currently in the middle of one album. Going to the UN to pitch a voting app. Still you have retention problems as that is not enough to keep people’s attention. Now, if I was really good looking, going to the mall would be an interesting adventure. Look - here I get a hair cut! And look at my good looking friends dealing with shopping during the pandemic! The servers would crash for that alone. Add in the advocacy and I’m a super star. But the reality is ordinary people with ordinary looks and crooked teeth. See what I’ve been up and how you stack up. And yet even I will check out the attractive woman on social media modelling a mask!



It is what it is - but I don’t want to turn into someone looking for likes or views and altering what they do or say to keep advertisers “ok” with advertising their product on your media. I don’t want to stay away from advocating to India - for example - because India only pays 25% of what a North American audience would bring in for revenue. No, that does not happen here. No ads by Google and stuff like that. It could happen if I retire and we need to keep things afloat in my golden years. But right now we won’t become a part of all that.



Once again, ordinary folk are a goldmine of cash if you need it. But you have to do it their way to get it. Be your own man and you have to finance it all on your own.....




But yes, my book at Walmart, I sort of made it?




Goodnight.....





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



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2020 9:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well my mouth is fixed for the time being…..



So the molar is plugged up with a big filling, and I guess we see how that holds or else it is another crown. So that was the big thing for that day, going to the dentist during the pandemic. So that was done but I also did some house work. I put a larger1.5 inch hose on my sump pump outside because I could buy the larger hose for a heavy duty sump pump. I also mowed the lawn and such. Then I did some stuff in the bathroom like replacing the shower curtains, except I had to get the clear ones and not the frosted curtain. Well if you have a lady friend over you could “accidently” barge in and get an eyeful – that’s about the only plus with these.



That was pretty much the day right there. I checked in on my dad as always, but nothing on the advocacy, that is still in limbo. I hate these moments; you are not in control of anything right now. You can make some moves when you know what will be going on, even if nothing goes on, but right now we really don’t know anything for sure. Your destiny is in the hands of fate, or The Fates as I like to call them. When you have done everything you can do to prepare for something big you get superstitious – why – because there is nothing else you can do. With things like superstition, fate and probabilities to making a big gamble, you don’t necessarily have to know completely how something works, just how to manipulate them hopefully to a better outcome. So if I win the lottery always playing the same number, the next draw has me playing new numbers and so on. But more than a few world leaders have gone to spiritualists to glean insight into decisions they are making for all in their society. Hitler was one example, especially just before he gained power.





The Fates!




But really talking about luck and fate merely shows just how out of control our destinies really are. You really do need some luck to score as things almost never work as planned - even when the “fix” is in. Even serial killers succumb to this type of thing leaving some to live and some to die all based on the supernatural. Like the killer in the movie “No Country for Old Men - he uses a coin toss. Heath Ledger and “Two Face” started the coin toss when common conventions went out the door. For these people, leave someone’s fate to chance absolves them of guilt in killing them. It was up to fate and they could just as easily have been spared - but it was not up to them - so no guilt..... Man this is getting dark, but all I’m saying is when you have done all you can, it is up to chance or fate. Take your pick - I am there now with the advocacy.....



But the pandemic killed my chance at a booth at the WTO which was more of a sure thing as they extended registration last year - but my chances at General Assembly at the UN and the World Bank/IMF would have been zero this year for sure without the pandemic. General Assembly is the big score so the pandemic is better than nothing for me in terms of luck. It’s really a crap shoot now, but at least I “have” a chance.....



Goodnight.....






https://youtu.be/ZRG1tWQN6e8



https://youtu.be/opbi7d42s8E
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Maurice Ali



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

PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 7:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

One thing the pandemic has done is to really kill some ambitions I had before and now I have to scale things back.




Jelleestone's fans at FOFSTOCK!



Jelleestone's fans at the stage barricades at FOFSTOCK!



Night time crowd!



The biggest is FOFSTOCK 2. FOFSTOCK cost me about 30 grand to put on with no backers or public money coming in. That is what I paid for my Mustang! And no payment plans - it was the money up front! Was it worth it - ? - Hell yes! We got good video for the movie and a stand alone doco for the event. I even got the sound right as that is really harder than you think. That - was a gamble - we could have been rained out. Gun shots could have been fired with all the rap acts there and the inevitable stampede to get out with injuries - that’s why I had 20 million of liability insurance instead of the usual 2 million. So many things could have gone wrong that you really have to be “off” a bit in the head to do this. But FOFSTOCK was a success, and the drama of the concert being shut down and having the fans force Yonge-Dundas Square start it up again because they feared a riot - was just icing on the cake! Then there was Shane quitting on me at the end and videotaping it for me to find out later when uploading everyone’s video into that Avid editor of mine - too funny. At the time he was AWOL and and when I saw the video of him quitting and really giving me a piece of his mind - well - I just sat back and said “so that’s what happened to him”! Really a creative way to quit a job - I was impressed! He ran off with Anna to the east coast, but after this piece of work, how could I not welcome him back into the label. The real unforgivable sin is being boring in the media industry.....




Lee Aaron today!



Anyway, I now know how to put on a big ass outdoor concert! I even had a three thousand dollar advertising budget for FOFSTOCK. The hardest part was the main act for the music festival. Originally I nailed it down to Lee Aaron (i.e. Metal Queen) and a heavy/thrash metal band from Ottawa called Annihilator. Lee was up in Collingwood and could drive down. Annihilator was in Ottawa and could drive or fly down. I figured Lee would bring in the biggest crowd and reviewed her concerts in Europe that year and she still looked fab and could still belt out those vocals. Annihilator I discovered watching their performance at Hellfest - again in Europe - and that song “The Trend” and I started to do my homework.





Jeff Waters (2013)!



Lee Aaron was fine for the the music set up for FOFSTOCK. Annihilator could be a problem to properly drive heavy metal outdoors. To do it like North by Northeast meant a two story set of speakers at each end along with a building permit from the City of Toronto to erect the whole thing! But watching the band at the big events and the club events all worked, which is usually not the case. Someone at the back of a club with a cellphone recording still gets a decent performance from this band! So it could work. Lee was well known in North America. Annihilator was under the radar here, but well known in Europe selling over three million albums there (sort of like SAGA). They would still draw a decent crowd. Jeff Waters is one of the best guitarists in the world and hams it up regularly with the crowd, playing difficult guitar sections of a song and looking into the crowd and interacting with them at the same time - just to rub his natural talent in on everyone there. In the end it was all moot as Shane ran into Jelleestone on the street - in his everyday life - which was one of the controls of The Fortress Experiment, so we went with him instead.



Man did I go off on a tangent this time. I have to get out and about as it’s Stage 2 reopening in the Covid reopening plan for Toronto. But yes, things like FOFSTOCK 2 and The Lottofilmfest were really given a death sentence by the pandemic. If they really get a good vaccine by Christmas we may have a second chance. But it would be really tight given the more important things we have to do.....



Oh, today I prepare for 6 corporate tax returns and my personal income tax - there is always that.... I have to add that I really want FOFSTOCK 2! This damn pandemic! With no pandemic I would be flying around the world trying to change the world for the better. Reinventing the music and film industry! But instead I’m off to Starbucks and later to cheer as the local mall opens up.....




Goodnight.....






https://youtu.be/VYknHuE9NCY


https://youtu.be/M6L5h_Xz4d0


https://youtu.be/J59jbuu0SdI


https://youtu.be/afluzsO-Ufc
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Jun 25, 2020 9:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Still with FOFSTOCK




I did check with North by Northeast and they - of course - did shut down the live performance schedule for what would have been a June 15-20 music festival at Yonge-Dundas Square. They may have the gaming portion in August, but what a disaster there. They will get some money back but a lot was lost. You only appreciate this if you live with that uncertainty that are large outdoor concerts. I still say you have to be nuts to do this stuff. It is exciting and cool but nerve wracking. It never ends till next morning for us. No groupies, and after the concert you are in no condition for sex - trust me on that..... I remember the next day with my first sunburn (a real accomplishment for a brown guy to peel but it did happen). I had to crawl on all fours and crawl to a banister to get myself up on two legs - it was that bad. Everyone took off to party and left me and my director from England to load it all into the truck. I’m amazed she helped me out, but in her younger days was into the music and actually dated a producer who promoted and made music with punk acts in London where it all started - and this guy was no poser vanity producer but the real thing at some famous locations. So she helped which helped. Got home at 5:30am. I swore I would never do this again!




The gong and tearing down the drum kit. You can see the kicker!




Jelleestone is friends with Drake and Justin Beiber and there was talk they might secretly show up. I didn’t see them there but there was a party afterward (Jelleestone and 2 Rude/Kaleb Simmonds definitely left together) and probably the reason why everyone ditched the stage and took off.



Never again! I swore I would never do that again. You all heard about the perks musical artists ask for at concerts and FOFSTOCK was no different. Jelleestone got 2 suites at the Marriot a block away with free drinks, food, long distance and so on. Dan got one suit at the Bond hotel just north of the square. Twenty6hundred got the pick of the equipment, and it was they who ordered the gong last used by the band Nazareth. There is a pecking order to the perks and everyone keeps an eye on each other. Drama everywhere - so I’m still surprised I would even entertain FOFSTOCK 2, but as they say: You only live once!



The bizarre thing is that this was a real and professional event. The physical draw during the day matched the capacity at Sky Dome. You literally could scale up what you did to a U2 size performance. All the bits and pieces and bureaucracy are the same. As a corporation we actually could hold an event for some organization for a fee. I always kept that idea in my back pocket if need be. But no personal glory, orgies, or fast life. It’s really a job and work actually.....


Weirdest thing at FOFSTOCK? Watching cops in cop cars pull up to the square and bash way at the gong. Word got out the gong was there for a few hours so you got cops in full uniform going on stage and wacking the gong. Then the maintenance staff wanted a go afterwards. I should have charged admission for this!


The mandate takes priority but FOFSTOCK 2 is very much alive! Older folk like me put on these things and it’s all the same, North by Northeast producers would show up at the end and thank the fans and then drop the F bombs as it is too late for YDS to do anything about it. FOF made it’s mark by actually having the F bombs and N words prominently displayed during the main performance. Usually that shuts it down for good, but FOFSTOCK got away with it by virtue of the fans. Great stuff there as I never heard of a reversal as dramatic as that one from YDS before. Afterward we did the petition to change to a “Safe Harbour” form of profanity and YDS actually decided to give it a try. Then the Danzig shooting happened that year and that scared YDS so much they rescheduled the rap concert to late fall and then dropped the whole idea. That’s how it goes folks.....



You do it for the love of it. I just watched “Bang a Gong” by T.Rex, during a camera sweep off-stage you see this old pot-bellied guy swinging to the music - that is the producer - and that is what I look like. Anyway, FOFSTOCK 2 will be taken care of by FOF Entertainment - if it ever becomes reality that is.....




Goodnight.....







https://youtu.be/A4o4Q9sd_y4

https://youtu.be/-ZylkQs-y3Y
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Maurice Ali



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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Fri Jun 26, 2020 8:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, I’ll let the cat out of the bag - due to Covid 19 we may be getting back into concerts again.....




JL with The Lox concert poster!



So many marginal music companies and record labels have fallen due to the pandemic and the loss of all live performances, this has created an enormous vacuum that even I can’t ignore! For us we are rocking about the post-pandemic world. The major companies may survive for the present but the smaller ones lost money on the current roster of concerts and will probably go bankrupt and stiff other companies (also marginal) in the process. As far as I can see there is blood everywhere, but we dodged all that and can capitalize on their loss as live performances is one area of the music industry where you can still make money.



Sam at the venue with the poster!


FOF can even go one further producing video from those events that can go anywhere. We have been around since 2005, have a stellar reputation in the industry with big broadcasters to the individual artists. Nobody worries about money when they deal with FOF. We have the resume and the practical experience to take advantage of what the pandemic did to this industry.







Take that concert we did in 2014 with the Lox. Take a good look at that poster. Especially the top banner.



The first company doesn’t exist it’s not a Corp and the name probably was never even registered. Centurii Blaize is Sam and so FOF. She ran this on the side while with us, but FOF always bailed her out if she stubbed her toe and couldn’t pay some bills. Last one was me flying home from the UN in New York and leaving the parking lot at Pearson driving straight down to this dive bar on Queen Street where Sam was holding an event on her birthday. She ran out of cash and the venue had to be paid; so I paid it (her FOF birthday present). I loved her Facebook post where she recorded the event and thanked me for “saving her ass”! That disappeared after a day later and it became another successful “Centurii Blaize promotion” (probably got that move from me). Anyway I’ve known her since she was 15 and she’s almost like family so..... She is still very much a part of FOF, but actually now on maternity leave.




The Lox at in Niagara Falls!




Jadakiss of The Lox!



But back to The Lox concert. Centurii Blaize is FOF, 9-0 Nickel Entertainment is Peter Jackson (a talented artist still around making moves), and of course D-Block is The Lox’s record label. Note at the end of the day it’s: “F.O.F. & D-Bock Present” that says it all right there. The reason Sam got so involved, the reason our Droops Holiday got on the poster, was because FOF was involved and the only corporation there with the liability insurance in case anything epic happened in a bad way. The bar was barely making the rent and could not protect D-Block/The Lox if anything bad happened. Man, reading the reviews there always makes me laugh!









Anyway, no insurance and no concert so that is why FOF and D-Block are always together (joined at the hip) in the poster and lots of pics of Sam there who works for me. If anything bad happened D-Block Records is back in the States, the bar gets closed (went belly up soon anyways) and FOF is holding the bag for it all including all those useless vanity companies adorning that poster.










Shane freaked out when he was told of this but I told him it was cool. FOF is a Corp and my assets are protected. Plus, we have lots of insurance the others could not get - so let Sam have some fun and add the event to the resume. I was nervous the night of the concert - but nothing happened and another notch in the company’s resume.





Mobb Deep!




Next up at the bar was Mobb Deep, another famous rap act from the past! It went as far as the first poster promo and then got scrappped. Probably Mobb Deep’s management checked out the venue and changed their mind. But probably a lack of secured capital as we were in this with the insurance again. In retrospect, if I was handling this instead of Sam, I would have bankrolled the remaining cash to keep the concert viable and slapped that big FOF registered trademark on the event and another notch on the resume.




Freeway!


Still with the same setup was Freeway. That should have gone on but Freeway got robbed in Toronto a day before his gig and that also fell through and personally I probably could have saved that concert - but Sam could not make that call unilaterally.




And that is how it goes in the good times. These days it must be a suicidal nightmare for those that matter. But in the end it is just a few players that make a concert. For The Lox concert it was only four: The bar, Jackson, The Lox, and FOF. It’s as small and as intimate as that. I can do that for the rest of my active life if I wanted to.....




So we shall see how that plays out. It’s so viable I can’t not look at it seriously. So that’s what has been running through my mind lately.




Goodnight.....









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



(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/yoYZf-lBF_U



(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/1swlUtEkXZ0
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 27, 2020 3:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I’ll make this one short and sweet…..



The difference between me and most is perspective and ability. Ability gets you ability but can’t “make it happen” if the status quo is entrenched. You are up against people who want to keep things the way they are because it works for them. And these are not the smartest people in the world. A good idea falls flat because it does not impact them in a positive way and mostly because they are better off than the others already. But throw in the pandemic and things get disrupted. The usual opportunities may now involve risks they don’t want to take but others locked out may be willing to risk. And that is where we are here today. With regard to advocacy we see the most massive changes in the status quo – I see opportunity! In the music industry we see the most massive blows to the established companies making money – I see opportunity! A disrupted society means a chance for me and I have been prattling about this for a while now.



That does not mean success, but what it does mean is uncertainty and thus a chance where there was none. With a second wave hitting some parts f the States I may be shut out of the General Assembly in September, that is the way it goes as nothing is certain, but we may luck out in the music. You just don’t know, but before this there was certainty that nothing positive for me would happen. So when push comes to shove the pandemic is working for me



As for what I am doing for Saturday, catching up on sleep for one. Then watching Ford vs. Ferrari and getting my receipts together for a massive tax set of returns! The car has leaked nothing since I got it back and the engine has not made any noises at all on startup for like six weeks! The messed up molar had the dentist warning me on temperature sensitivity and fragility and so on - so far everything is fine. Even the squirrels have left me alone. So things are “ok” for now. I'm also back into my routine before the pandemic - sort of - because we still have the masks.....





Later…..





https://youtu.be/R2AcCD8jFdk
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 3:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A late one as I had to buy my folks groceries. I did finish watching the movie “Ford vs. Ferrari” and it made me wonder what happened to me and my dream cars.




Ford vs. Ferrari!



So I bought a ton of groceries and while there I washed the car and thought about it. How many cars do I have left in my life? As a kid I always wanted a real sports car - and that always meant:


1. 2 doors
2. Aluminum body panels (for lightness)
3. Independent rear suspension
4. 4 wheel disc brakes
5. 150 plus top speed


When the fuel pump on the Roadmaster bit the dust I decided to buy another car. The experiment was mostly over so I could at least make the payments on some economy car. I figured a Hyundai Elantra like my sister had. I even took it for a spin while waiting for a tow as I needed to take a piss and eat something. The tow came five hours later and I was sure a new car was in the waiting.


But when I was checking out the Elantra’s I made the “mistake” of checking out the Mustangs. Normally I’m a big V8 guy and the Roadmaster has a Corvette LT1 V8 engine with custom stainless exhaust and 147mph top speed for an eight seat station-wagon with wood paneling. But that was no sports car! The dealers that year didn’t bring in the base V8 that year so the V8 Mustang cost double the price of the V6! And I would have to stretch for the six as it was three to four thousand more than the Elantra but with higher insurance and gas. But I would still be comfortable with that. The Mustangs even looked like my old 5.0s and nice and sturdy so it could last 18 years. I checked the specs and the V6 was faster than my Mustangs of the past. At least a second faster to 60 and the quarter and an ungoverned top speed of 157mph (about 260 km if you stand on the accelerator till there ain’t anymore) vs. 142 for my old V8 Fox bodies Stangs. I looked inside and crawled around underneath. It made my old requirements for a sports car. Independent suspension for the first time and rear wheel discs. Well over the top speed requirement. It even had an aluminum hood and front fenders! I sat ass down on the pavement in front of the car and thought about it. The decision was made there and then. But I wanted a black one. Driving around the dealers I found the last one at Yorkdale. At 10:30am the next day I bought it from fleet sales and negotiated the price to keep it under tax requirements for company non-luxury cars, probably the cheapest Mustang if not the cheapest sports car you could buy!


Apart from the water pump gasket leak fiasco that had the car at the dealers for three weeks, it is the most reliable automobile I have ever driven. That gasket leak was the only problem and should have been a simple in and out the same day - so I won’t blame the pandemic situation on the car - it just was what it was. According to the dealer there was nothing wrong which I would have loved to believe. But I have evidence it leaked and the others all leaked at the same mileage.



If it was not for the advocacy I would be driving two cars and one would be a Vette. But because I seem to be good at advocacy and the dissemination of important ideas, I drive this Mustang instead. It has grown on me, never let me down in over three years (the leak would never strand me anywhere) and gave me virtually nothing to complain about. When the weather gets colder I will replace the oil with 0W20 that should stop the engine noises at start up on long-standing cold weather. I’m embarrassed I didn’t do this earlier - but they all say it shouldn’t harm the engine. This car never uses any oil at all (unlike the V8 and I4) so the thinner oil should be just fine for winter. And that is my long term review of my car. The V6 also seems to be the most reliable engine on these latest Mustangs - man I would hate to pay double the amount of the V6 for a V8 with a tick and 2000rpm piston slap needing a short block replacement after 10,000km. Or “Ecoboost Ecoboom” with the four cylinder. This was the car for me.



Unlike the four, the six can get forced induction for 8 thousand making it faster than the V8 at conservative boost. It can take it to the platform’s 575 horsepower limit with ease. The top limit for this engine is 1200 horsepower under the same setup but things start breaking fast at that level. You can’t buy a V6 anymore as they discontinued it in 2018. It still soldiers on in the truck division and the police interceptor cars. All this reflection from watching a car movie.....



Aside from the car stuff is the bags of receipts for the taxes. Always that! That should take one to two weeks for all the corporations. Fun, fun, and more fun.....



Later.....



https://youtu.be/v0_iqYgOdvM


https://youtu.be/AwtJb61hpvo


Done wrong:

https://youtu.be/DsuK5gaUBro


Done right:


https://youtu.be/ulDyF9VVI80
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 11:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

And just like that it’s back to work!



Back on the horse again. Got in touch with Amazon Prime to see what’s happening with our last TV show. I’m starting the series 4 DVD pack and now know how to go about it.



But the big thing for Monday was replacing my old personal computer where I sleep. The current computer is this old Pentium 4 thing from the turn of the century - strange to hear that and know it’s true - hooked up to an old Samsung CRT and a very old clickable IBM keyboard with the old purple legacy connector. I’m replacing the computer and keeping the rest for the time being. I have a USB converter for the keyboard as these things are now collectable by writers and journalists - you can punch on them all day long without fatigue and mine is complete and fully functional. So I’m adding programs to the machine now while copying files to the secondary drive. It was hard to find a used tower these days with Windows 10 Pro as refurbs are either laptop/desktop but rarely towers. I actually could get a better spec desktop for the same money but need two DVD drives and two Disc driveS minimum so to hell with desktops....


Anyway the thing is old enough to accept all my old parts kicking around and new enough to run Windows 10 Pro. So that is the plan for today and tomorrow - set up the new computer and retire the old one.




Cirque du Soleil!


In other news, big acts continue to go bankrupt and the largest is Cirque du Soleil, the famous Canadian troop usually playing Vegas and around the world. I told you guys this would happen - but Cirque du Soleil may survive with the Quebec government propping it up eventually. For the others the future may be grim. FOF is sitting pretty and can take advantage of the situation when things improve. But not now - we just continue to wait.....



Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/x-1-gLv3aWs
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2020 11:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It’s Canada Day!


But no holiday for me. I spent the morning sorting out the hardware for the new “used” computer. I’m still pissed that I have to pay a premium and can’t find refurbished towers coming off lease at the big box computer stores. I had to go to the corner computer store manned by fellow brown guys not really willing to haggle because business is slow. So when they knocked off 50 bucks with a nervous look on their face - I just said “sold” - and was done with it. It’s now up and running and I looked at the guts of that old IBM machine it replaces. Everything covered in dust. All IDE connectors- nothing SATA. It would never start right, could not be upgraded to Windows 10 because of the processor, constant warnings about browsers being discontinued and so on.


I gave up using it for updates and did those on my phone which is why you see never ending goofy word substitutions and all kinds of crap injected by “so called” AI that didn’t quite get what I was thinking at the time....



But whatever, Shane scouted a new musical act, and in review I gave him the go ahead to talk to the guy, so we shall see what happens there. We are very much recruiting now as media companies not into streaming or broadcast are dropping like flies. Even musicians that play local bars are barred as singing really spreads the virus. We just play the cards and do so conservatively.



I’ll finish up with the computer with a few more programs and bung up the memory with whatever leftover sticks I can find and be done with it. Then some work on the web and a quick drive around in the car to clear my head. Right now is a visit to my dad and some lunch.



That is Canada Day for me.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2020 6:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

An early one for a change.







That is the new tower on the left with the old IBM desktop on the right and an old CRT on top of it. Not quite as sexy as the five year old Dell I took to the UN the last couple of years. That laptop is also old but has an i7 processor along with an SSD hard drive and tons of memory. I do all the work myself and all my computers aren “one of kind” in the end. All of them - also - run Linux on demand (I’m funny that way). To this day I have never purchased a new computer, always business refurbished off lease with Pro OS except for the one Mac I owned. The keyboard is the most expensive thing in the photo above. Anyway it’s done - I did find a couple of sticks of ram so that got doubled today!




Using Linux - Yes, geeks only - no iOS/Windows here!



I slept most of the day though. No regrets there as I needed it. But whatever, it just continues. I find Covid 19 just messes up everyone’s life including the industrial dance women in Germany. Girl just wants to dance and now she doesn’t even have that! Basically the virus have caused the most incredible amount of hurt you can imagine. And it isn’t over yet. Anyway I’ll watch a movie tonight and eat some KYC for celebrations. If I can’t sleep I’ll do some more work On the web - that sort of thing. Mid-week holidays suck!




Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Jul 02, 2020 12:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You know what, I’ll add a bit more today.


I’m a free speech guy but I’m not a hate speech guy - there is a difference. I also run a very mall advertising company. So I find it more than a little surprising to see Facebook having major players pull advertising because of hate speech on the platform. But there may be more to this.


This is all about advertising and branding but I have seen stuff on Facebook that as a company would make your face crawl. I saw one Facebook well distributed post that claimed one of the biggest fast food chains used dead babies for meat in its burgers. And not just one sentence but posted like a news article. Yet, show so much as a part of a female nipple on Instagram, and the post disappears immediately. Send a nude photo over “encrypted” Facebook messenger and you get warning from Facebook that the message may be inappropriate? So much for encryption and security. But Facebook can police hate speech if it wants to and from any entity if it wants to. I have seen their capabilities in action personally.


This is my problem with on open internet used by a handful of players to un-democratize it by making the internet easy and cheap to use on their platforms and then subtly change the environment to their choosing.



This is why you have to come here to see what I am up to. If I was on a popular platform I would be at the mercy of their terms and conditions. If I object, there goes my material and followers and good luck trying to get it back. Free to use but all my material would be owned and at the mercy of the platform. That is a crap deal for everyone!



It’s a complex issue but I am happy to see that sticking to my principles was the right thing in the end. Who talks about their life on Facebook anyway, anymore. Just people forwarding other material and spyware from dubious sources. The beginning of the net was the best - true democracy and it is still there if we want it. Rant over - and a shout out to those advertisers doing the right thing!
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