The Manrilla Blog | Life. Art. Religion. Culture.

It seems there will always be people who can’t behave themselves. Those who just can’t be civil - play by the rules. Now I’m not saying that I’m some sorta angel ‘cuz I know many of you would laugh yourselves to sleep at that notion. But I’m not a jerk, either. I keep a blog because: Read more this entry »

Recently inspired by my friend Titus and my cousin, Tracy, I’ve delved into the world of video. The concept of shooting video has grown on me. So, as I learn and other projects come to light I’ll try to post some of my work on the new Video Blog. Have a look-see.

We really do live in a video game nation. It’s amazing how prevalent they’ve become. Though I am still fairly young I came from a generation where video games were still new - they were cool but we stilled preferred to go and play hoop. But now, with the graphics having progressed to such a high, fairly realistic level, they are the choice for entertaining kids today. And adults. The line between Hollywood and the Playstation has blurred. They have released or soon to, another video game cum action-hero movie. But already, without having seen it, I know it’s gonna just suck. Why is that you say? Because I wanna go see a movie, not a video game. I wanna see a story told, unfold before my eyes with characters I care about - not vicariously live through someone’s video game experience. And that’s precisely what Doom will be. Read more this entry »

Never, ever, ever buy a cheap beard trimmer. That’s right. ‘Cause if you do you’ll be trying to come up with some alternative facial hair thingy that’ll look half-way decent until your beard grows back (which for me means about 4 or 5 days tops). This seems to happen to me once or twice a year. Yesterday, while cleaning up, the guard on my beard trimmer broke; or maybe malfunctioned is a better word. It left a two-inch wide swath of no hair on my left cheek. After the appropriate cursing I shaved the rest of my hair off (the Salafis are gonna love this one!), leaving a small portion to look as if I had really wanted to do it instead of the accident that it truly was. Oh, well. Such is life. Maybe my dimples were tired of being kept in the dark.

The upside of yesterday’s downside was seeing Rob and Joslin. I had a chance to go over and see them at their new place. They just arrived from Madison. We both lived in Madison and now we all live in Philadelphia. Wild.

We got to know each only just shortly before I left but we got along well. It was really fun to see them and to have some more friends here as well. Rob’s got a really nice family - I met both of his brothers yesterday, too. We sat and talked about music (sorry, Jocelyn! I will let you have your man back. I promise). I always felt like an alcoholic caught drinking at the bar by the bar tender with Rob. He and I’d talk for hours about music and finally Jocelyn would “cut me off”! But, it was all fun. I look forward to seeing them again.

On the other side of fun is work. I’ve got about four or five different sites I’m trying to work on at the moment. That has been keeping me firmly tethered to my Mac all day long. But soon I shall break free and make my clean gettaway. Well, I hope ya’ll had a good weekend.

I had some business to attend to in New York yesterday. It’s always a pleasure visiting that fair city. I especially like the Village. My kinda people. It was a good trip. I will be busy for quite some time with the work I took home from there - some freelance Web design projects. We’ll post as soon as we have stuff to show. Thanks to Amir for being a very gracious host. Alhamdulillah, it was good to meet you at this point in my life. You’re an inspriration. I hope to see you soon. And of course, we’ll see NYC sooner than later.

I also had the chance to do a little more filming. I’ll put up something amusing about my NYC trip but here’s a tid bit that I shot today of Tyrone, a street musician. Click here to view the movie. Enjoy.

A close friend of mine, Titus Heagins, recently had an exibition featuring his body of work entitled Plantation Lullaby. Already, the work is sparking talk. Check out more on it here. The newspaper’s article covering the ground breaking exhibition has enlisted threats of lawsuit from the Ku Klux Klan. That’s my boy! Go get ‘em, Titus!

I’ve gone insane with creativity lately. Images, movies and music. Heck, I’ve even got merchandise. Well, anyway, now you can check out the fly new single from DJ Iron Rilla (a.k.a, ME!!): Procession, the single from his new album, 2nd Time ‘Round. Yeeeeaaaah, boyeee!!

Confess it!! You’ve always dreamed of having Manrilla paraphernalia. Well, now you can!! Well, at least the logo. There’s 3 amazing options, all featuring our famous BPD logo: the T-shirt, the coffee mug and the messenger bag. Now, I can be with you where ever you go. And we know how much you’d LOVE that!! So, prices are slashed and everything must go!! Crazy ‘Rilla’s End of Summer Blowout!!! Heck, I couldn’t think of a better way to say you’re my friend than to walk around with my logo all over your body!

The Manrilla Shop: www.cafepress.com/bpddesigns

Go now while supplies last!!!!!!!!!