To the Hills 2: 25 Independent Short Films in One - the complete movie online, here, free!

31st
Mar. × ’09

Here is “To the Hills 2,” the complete film.  I’ve clipped it from Hulu for you to watch here.
The film is available on DVD from
To the Hills Studios here on Amazon.

This sequel to the original To the Hills features new, strange characters, striking cinematography in Williamsburg, Harlem, Bushwich, and every up-and-coming or down-and-going neighborhood in New York. If you’re sick, it will make you better. If you’re down, To the Hills will bring you up. It’s the first collection of short films to give the satisfaction of a full-length film while pushing the film medium to its limits. If you want new and different, you’ve come to the right place.

Films include: the award-winning Finanial Advice (as seen on TV in New York City), Awkward Social Situations, Real Estate Pro, Live’N'Maintain, Milk Industry, Astronaut’s Diary, How to Pitch a Movie, Actor, Subway Conductor, The Extraordinary Origin of Everyday Items, Everything I Know, Wrestle_bach, Dr. KYG, and the shoot-em-up-in-the-snow-adventure Clone War 3.

“you might think you know a lot of people. . . but I know more people” (from Financial Advice)
“If somebody asks you a difficult question, just think with your face” (from Awkward Social Situations)
“I make stuffed animals: people want a pet but they don’t want it to die.” (from Milk Industry)
“Sweet as ice, man, ice tea.” (from Live’N'Maintain)

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Eat and Know

29th
Mar. × ’09

The story so far:

The main character has decided to try and find the one set of rules that anyone can follow to a life of magnificence and fulfillment.  He resolves to formulate one rule each day, to test the rules on himself.  Until today all the rules have been working splendidly.

This is the plot of this chapter, read it after watching if you like surprises:

The main character is hungry.  He starts to eat his new ‘all natural’ groceries.  A fly almost flies into his mouth.  His sister calls.  She tells him that there’s no such thing as ‘all natural.’  He’s distraught. The rule ‘Buy All Natural’ is now meaningless.  He decides to cross it out, and you should go back and cross it out too.

Video by and starring Fritz Donnelly shot by Christina Ewald
from the new novel
How to Live the Good Life: The Complete Book of Rules
available here: http://www.lulu.com/content/4713879
and at St. Marks Books in New York City

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Take Flyers

20th
Mar. × ’09


Take Flyers-ch 5- How to Live the Good Life -Fritz Donnelly from fritz donnelly.

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Take Note

12th
Mar. × ’09


Take Note - ch 4 - How to Live the Good Life -Fritz Donnelly from fritz donnelly on Vimeo.

“Take note…the sentence has been made and there is no fixing it.” Check out the book here: lulu.com/content/4713879 .

Video by Fritz Donnelly shot by Christina Ewald.
Chapter 4 of How to Live the Good Life by Fritz Donnelly. For more videos see: tothehills.com .

Below are two summaries of the chapter with some background from previous chapters.  If you prefer to jump into a video not knowing much about it, don’t read the below and just watch the video above.  If you like some background, if you read the backs of books, if you listen to what friends say about movies before you’ve seen them, then read 1 below and/or 2.

1

Take note of your surroundings with a pad and two pens.  Make sure the pad is ready at hand and don’t be discouraged by loud noises, such as may be heard on the new york city subway.  Try to remain cool.  Though those are old shoes, probably no one thinks your homeless.

In previous chapters the main character resolved to look for one rule each day.  Each new rule should lead to greater happiness and fulfillment, until the ultimate set of rules has been found.  Anyone can follow these rules to lead a life of magnificence.  So is the hope,  anyway.

2

In which the main character endeavors to take note of everything remarkable. On the subway he discovers that the two colored pens he has taken are each the same color, under the blue cap is a black pen. The train is so loud that he begins a petition for a ‘quiet ride.’ One person signs the petition, a child, who it later becomes clear has merely copied the protagonist’s name on a separate line. Many people glance at the protagonist’s shoes, he notes 38 times, and he becomes concerned that he appears homeless. Upon returning home he asks himself, “who is the master afterall, the shoes or the man?”

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Buy All Natural - ch 3 - How to Live the Good Life

7th
Mar. × ’09


Buy All Natural ch 3 How to Live the Good Life by Fritz D. from fritz donnelly on Vimeo.

NEW!

Read a chapter of the book into your video machine and I’ll post it as part of the blog.

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Walk to Work - ch 2 - How to Live the Good Life

2nd
Mar. × ’09


buy the book here in paperback or pdf: http://www.lulu.com/content/4713879
or donate to the project and get a prize: http://www.indiegogo.com/project/pledge/726?iggref=IAAC_FNBR

Walk to Work - ch 2 of How to Live the Good Life starring and by Fritz Donnelly
video shot in the snow storm by Christina Ewald

“Today is worse. I walked past work and kept going.”

Every other day author Fritz Donnelly reads from his book “How To Live the Good Life” in surprising locations all around the globe. Can you guess where this was shot? What do you like about the book so far?

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Read Aloud chapter 1

27th
Feb. × ’09

READ ALOUD - Chapter 1 of How to Live the Good Life
by Fritz Donnelly
buy the book here in paperback or pdf: http://www.lulu.com/content/4713879

sparkleup

video and reading by Fritz Donnelly, video shot by Christina Ewald and others also appearing in this video Taryn, Kyle, Christina,  Scott, Ilir, Dima, Rolyn and others. Thanks to everyone who’s bought the book so far.  The facebook group is here. Tell me what you think of the first chapter dear readers.

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How to Live the Good Life - Introduction

25th
Feb. × ’09

How to Live the Good Life
published by The Fauntleroy House, written by Fritz Donnelly
videos starring Fritz Donnelly and shot by Christina Ewald

goodlife-bookcover-7

Many of you have purchased my book from me in person

readers

or online

goodlife-lulu

wait no longer, dear readers…

readers-on-orchard

the good life is coming to you, in order, chapter by chapter, one rule at a time, every other day, from now until it’s finished. And if you’d like your own copy now: http://www.lulu.com/content/4713879.

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HiChristina applies for grant as FRIEND

29th
Nov. × ’08

Christina applied for a $7,000 grant from the New York Council for the Arts as a New Media Artist.
Her performance? Friend.

Help Friends Movehelpfriendsmove2008
MATERIALS car, loads of stuff
DIMENSIONS 12 foot by 4 foot by 6 foot
TYPE OF WORK/ DATEOFWORK performance, 2008
NOTES Minnesota to Manhattan. Manhattan to Brooklyn

Christina Shows It’s Possiblechristinashowsitspossible
MATERIALS metal bar, body, cane, broken foot, chair
DIMENSIONS 6 foot long
DATEOFWORK 2008
NOTES
premise: you can go upside down, even with a broken foot. result: cheers.

Cut a Friend’s Hair and Clean Up After
Christina cuts a friends hair - look out Fritz
MATERIALS scissors, broom, dust pan, human head of hair
DIMENSIONS 3 by 1 by 1
DATEOFWORK 2008
NOTES haircuts are expensive, but can be free when given by a friend or friendly stranger.

Christina Throws a Benefit
Christina's broke(n) foot benefit
MATERIALS space in Manhattan, email list, phone, paper, tape, broken foot
DIMENSIONS 20 feet by 12 feet by 12 feet
DATEOFWORK 2008
NOTES raise money for a good cause. over $700 raised in amounts of $20 or less.

Christina Comforts Serially Cheating FriendChristina comforts friend
MATERIALS unused stair, comforting arm
DIMENSIONS two people
DATEOFWORK 2008
NOTES a friend in a stable relationship serially cheats. is it ok? Christina comforts without passing moral judgement. “It’s your fault, but you’re still great.”

Christina Throws Event in Furled Underroos Christina throws event with Fritz
MATERIALS projector, filmmaker, films, friends, underoos
DIMENSIONS small storefront
DATEOFWORK 2008
NOTES tothehills short films, you can get them on Amazon or watch them online, but why not watch the latest cuts in the company of friends? that’s a rhetorical question.

Unsolicited TestimonialTestimonial
MATERIALS email
DIMENSIONS ten lines
DATEOFWORK 2008
NOTES a stranger salutes Christina for changing her life.

RESUME
Christina Clare Ewald
HICHRISTINA.COM
154 Orchard Street
New York City, NY 10002

OBJECTIVE: FRIEND

–FRIENDSHIPS FORMED–
Befiended mother and father, 1982
Made friends with twin neighbor girls Stacy and Stephie in White Bear Lake, MN, 1985
Cared for new baby sister Laura Ewald, MN, 1986
Friends with kindergarden bus seat partner Melanie Rosenthal in Apple Valley, MN, 1986
Life long friendship formed with biology partner Micheal Anderson at Apple Valley Senior High, 1994

–LOVE RELATIONSHIPS–
Attended Saidies dance with Steve Dalhead at Apple Valley Senior High, MN, 1997
First kiss with Tony Radecki at Apple Valley senior High, MN, 1998
Sexual experience in Mrs. Radecki’s Toyota while watching planes land in Richfield, MN, 1999
Fell in Love with Fritz Donnelly, NYC, 2008

–LONG TERM FREINDSHIPS–
Helped Cleo Fishel move into new apartment at 1st and 14th, NYC, 2008
Dinner party with Richard Sandler, brought wine and a record, NYC 2008
Collaborating and supporting Fritz Donnelly, NYC, 2008

EVERYDAY
Smiling
Helping tourists with directions the best I can
Always available to help friends move to a new apartment
Giving advice and counsel to those in need
Giving loving support to all

TECHNICAL STATEMENT
This artist fellowship will be used for continuing to spread love. Making people happy and giving everyone the chance to be understood. HiChristina is a space that rarely exists in urban environments. People feel welcome and are accepted in this non-judgmental atmosphere. We can all be artists if we smile at every person we meet. Life is art. Make it count and make friends everywhere you go.

The photos are all current. The testimonial is from 2006.

Photo 1: I am helping Joe O’brien move across the country from NY to MI, 2007
Photo 2: Horsing around in HiChristina before an opening for Scott Kiernan and Paris Mancini that I hosted at the space in August 2008
Photo 3: Sweeping up after giving a friend a much needed haircut, 2008
Photo 4: Whooping it up at HiChristina, having lots of fun with friends at the Broke(n) foot benefit, 2008
Photo 5: Consoling a friend Ewa after she had a hard day, 2008
Photo 6: Hosting the Camera Obscura event making sure everyone has what they need, 2008
Photo 7: A testimonial from a stranger describing how I changed her life, 2006

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Predict the Future

6th
Nov. × ’08

Predict the Future

predict the future

(at HiChristina October 17, 2008 by Fritz Donnelly and Christina Ewald)

Each person was given a piece of paper and asked to write down predictions for the future in increments, 1 year, 5 years, and 50 years from now.

Predictions for the future??????
1 Obama elected, Fritz lives in NYC
5 ?
50 ?
this is hard for me.
-E.

perception will

Building Squatter with 30 years experience

This man who starred in his own “DVD” which I won I a raffle on my last visit to “Me Cristina” just gave me this cash register paper which is slick to write on because it’s like semi gloss—I just happened to walk down Orchard St—and this happened—not so cool to write on because of the slickness, I prefer matte absorbine paper.

Retired Administrator Karen “time is on our side”

One year…….clothing is more expensive. The days of cheap clothing passes because demand is
down and wages are higher in China. China has begun to let farmers own and sell their land or
develop it in an effort to develop rural china. Price of oil is still low…..$80 per barrel. Housing
in usa has begun to recover with low mortgages available. USA is in deeper war in Afganistan.
China is buying Africa. Environmental movement is on growth path……jobs. Infrastructure for
municalities and states is subsidized by Uncle Sam. Frugality is hip. Helping each other, bartering
is more common. Healthcare for children is in place.

5 years………Solar and Wind support electrical needs in some places. Autos are more efficient so
mass transit hasn’t gone anywhere. Organic foods are the standard food. There has been a breakthrough in health science of some kind……maybe cancer, maybe altzheimers. Viruses are smarter and harder to get rid of. Less people retire early, more people are unemployed and have moved to rural areas to live more simply. Mom and Dad are grandparents, Evie and Fritz are parents and are happily engaged in creative pursuits. Body parts that are part nonorganic are common, perhaps there has been a discovery of regenerative cells, perhaps that takes 10 years.
World is still divided with those that have and those that have not. Religion still has its hold
on people to justify split.

50 years…….People live to 120 healthily. People can choose when to exit life. Brain chips are
common as a short cut to learning. The world has alot more water surface and communities float
because of this. Animals are treasured and propagated. Food is very expensive and rarely
grown in soil. Evie and Fritz are grandparents and the best of friends. Companies rule the world,
not countries. Communities exist as special places where people choose to live because of
shared values. People have to qualify to have children because of resources. Violent crime
only exists as planned. criminals are brain treated and reprogramed. Fresh air and fresh water
are the most valued commodities.

5 years 50 years


Artist Scott Kiernan

1
There will be a massive equake in SF. BUT it will reveal unknown gold deposits!
NEW GOLD RUSH! Fame and small fortune of the nonfinancial sort for all.
My sinuses will finally clear up.
I will have yet another camera stolen from me along with other mini crises.
Underwear on the outside will be yet again in fashion.
MUCH REVELAION
Technology Regression Faction
BICYCLE JACKINGS will be on the 8pm news.
More shit will melt, bad news.
NANO BEDBUGS
Beer will be the cheapest consumable.
Summer of Love.
Trials for War Crimes.

5
We will still speak without speaking.
Wastefulness and greed will exist but in far smaller amounts, at least in America. This history will now be more manifest in other places. World power will continue to be a useful ghost to some.
Handheld media devices which project in real space will render the gallery space stupid and lead to more traffic accidents.
I will be 32.
A new cuneiform will be developed as a code to fight the powers that be.
PROHIBITION/ NEW DARK AGES
Summer of Loathe = Beginning of FERAL AGE.
People wear their possessions around their neck.
RISE OF THE AMISH
US will be a desperate nation.

50 years

50
I will look fondly on memories of “HiChristina” from a cube in the 18th dimension tenements, eating a frozen yogurt drink pellet.
The woods will mourn their former selves.
I will speak without speaking, still.
Eyes will be able to see into th skull cavity, perception will be…
Binary will answer everything thing. The only language.


Host Fritz Donnelly

1
The dollar is 15, pesos or yuan or cents—it’s hard to tell. School of Self-Expression merges with the Hall of Self-Improvement. You meet a new artistic type each in these lineages:

Flaneur

Bricoleur

Impersonator

_________

Bard

Gypsy

In-a-Band Man

_________

Cook

Seer

Shaman

_________

5
Rome! The Roman Empire, the Pope—Hello Pope ( a new Pope, a woman Pope) What’s going? Does ‘God ever Answer’ the subject of a funded study. And yet! We are all doctors, nurses because of Rudimentary Medical Training in Elementary, Junior High. A parallel government, education and social matrix has emerged.

predictdetail20

50

Blue is no longer a color or an attitude it is the name, the impostor.

Musican Declan Zimmerman

Start Here
1 Year
October 17, 2009. My cats will be FATTER and I will be thinner. High of 78 degrees. I am here at HiChristina with my 1 year old friends. Robots keep calling my cell phone. But we all still wait on hold, still way too much. I perform a nostalgic song about the Spring of ’09, when I fell in love with an astrophysicist who then broke my heart.

5 Years
Barak Obama is still President. Sarah Palin is President of Alaska, which ha seceded and is selling us over-priced oil. Flat screen TVs considered clunky. Declan Zimmerman big on college radio, which is listened to huh? by no one anymore. Tang still available. 90s “retro” fashion is in. the poetry has been retired. Organic Doritos. Scott’s predictions will still be more interesting.

predictdetail16

50 Years
I am way old. However I expect to live another 25 years. Jesus’ return still imminent to believers. Global warming has been reversed via climate engineering but now too much cooling. Panic ensues about the coming Ice Age. TANG company out of Shanghai. Segue-shoes are how we get around. Streets are paved with linoleum. Computers will be so small everyone loses them like their keys People live on Antarctica. World powered by solar energy. Ears surgically repaired so I can hear just fine.

Photographer and Swede Jonny

Predictions 2009
1 Year
American economy is doing worse, for some reason Obama gets the blame ‘cause he can’t fix it. The world follows a lot of whining. But the cats of lower Chinatown doesn’t care because they head no money before.

5 Years
Jonny is 34 years old and can’t leave America due to tax debts. Mastercard and Visa have finally succeded in getting the hole world in debt. How the fuck owns the credit card companies anyways?

50 Years
Skinny Baggy pants is on the way out of fashion. Gentleman bikers are the new black. It’s raining all the time. No one really knows what’s going on in China. Svenglish is the new language. Jay boy is breathing fresh air in a big farm outside Toronto with his lovely wife. He bread 5 kids that now work for the Nationala Environment Army! Jay successfully robbed 8 right-wing bankers 30 years back and fled and started a self-sustainable farm with 8 other like-minded couples and individs. Create a mini-society full of energy trees and different environmental-friendly solutions. (We are all wearing silver clothes that recharges our computha everything innit. I have white hair and black Supinox Sunglasses for sun is strong strong.

Scientist Ilir

100 years
We will find life on distant stars. 99% will be too distant to talk to. The really cool ones we will realize died 50,000 years ago.

1 year
Republican will suggest we outlaw affirmative action because a black guy became President and a woman, almost.
We will find out that something harmless is terrible for us: sunscreen or vitamins or maybe cosmetic dentistry.
Total real estate collapse for 5-10 years.

5 years
We will begin to tie a rope to a satellite and build a magic space rope to the sky. It will be called something dumb like, A Space Elevator.
We will go back to gas guzzling cars (with solar-powered coffee warmers).
There will be no wild-caught fish in the fish store.
There are no laptop or desktop computers.
Hamburgers will eat people
The first person will be cloned. It will be an annoying rich person. And he won’t tell anyone until year 10.
Cat people.
Triple Emperor Matresses.
Paper-towel sized toilet paper.
Deep fried pancake sandwiches.
We test people for heart-disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, in Elementary School.
First chimp-human hybrid eats first Neanderthal clone.
You will be able to walk a mile in a city without seeing a library, a bookstore, a record store, a video store, stationary shop, radio station, TV station.
We will make the first artificial life-form. It will be slightly greasy.

50 years
For 20 years major immediate causes of death, stroke heart disease, 75% of cancers, are either managed everyday or cured. Limbs can be replaced. As an unfortunate result: most people suffer from “Wearing Out Syndrome”—a slow loss of 1% of the brain due to atrophy, a year, the average person has 30% less brain than today. As a result, when touring old homes we tell people the doors are smaller because people were shorter and they had books because they were smarter. People will look like this:
[a huge round blob with a queasy expression on its face].
We will all wear the same thing. This will be called “fashion.”
We will live in private corporate towns and have to buy shares to visit folks.
There will be no nostalgia industry past 2020 as nobody is forced to watch the same entertainment at the same time. (Most people will be unable to write [almost illegible].)
Milk will be outlawed.
The mammoth will be cloned, found to be delicious, and become extinct again.

Fashion Designer Alisha

predictdetail10

Present [nice handwriting, she grew up with her grandmother]
Alisha identifies with the colloquialism “young, broke and fabulous”
Next Six Months
Valley of the Dolls Phase
One Year from Now
Alisha is still fabulous, no longer broke.
2009, September
First magazine cover.
2010
Alisha Trimble is the most photographed fashion designer in the USA.
2012
Barbie Doll in my likeness.
2013
World fame. Release life story. Censored for scandalous content.
2014
The new Mother Theresa = Mother Fuschia.
2050
Alisha lives in an enormous unkempt castle with 3 vanity tables covered with stuff. She has found all she is seeking in life and enjoys it with her dear friends.
2060
Valley of the Dolls Phase Part 2
2080
Buried next to Elizabeth Taylor.
2081
Exhumed due to mysterious cause of death scandal.

predictdetail07

Programmer Ethan

1
China lands on the moon.
5
China moves entire population to moon.
10
Chinese moon population cuts off all communications with Earth, having become self-sufficient.
50
Chinese population begins to evolutionarily diverge from contemporary humanity. Owing to superior moon nutrition and reduced gravity. New generations are, on average, 10 feet tall.
100
Chinese moon men, with ambitions of world domination, return to Earth. After initial successes they fall victim to newly fragile skeletons and collapse under Earth’s gravity.

predictdetail12

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