It’s down to the wire and you still haven’t found that perfect gift for your special someone? Starting to second guess if that slightly irregular slap-chop you bought your sister is going to cause her to burst into tears of joy, or just burst into tears?  We’re here to share Racket’s recipe for holiday high-fives with our list of perfect presents that will have you gifting like a boss.
Kauz Bots:
Give the gift that gives to others! Adorable robots programmed for a better world. The proceeds from each sale help go …

The music industry is filled to the brim with people who have no business being anywhere near music. I honestly think that some label execs don’t have CDs/tapes/records in their homes. Rey Roldan is the complete opposite. This is a guy who I’ve sat with and talked with, spitting my complete and utter bullshit at for an hour before we even got to the business-y reason I called him. Which was probably to get into a show for free or something. Free shows are awesome.
Anyways, his pad had recently caught …

The Newport Beach Film Festival kicks off tonight to usher in a week of shorts, cinema, and swanky parties. The Opening Night Gala film East Fifth Bliss stars Michael C. Hall from Showtime’s hit TV show Dexter, who plays a man who finds himself juggling having his overbearing widowed father as a roommate and trying to keep from getting burned by an awkward but fiery new relationship with a sexy younger woman.
The festival runs from April 28 to May 5 and will be closing out with A Beginner’s Guide to …

Hanna
Focus Features
8/10
Hanna- Girl assassin and government experiment in babysitting gone wrong. She was raised by an ex-secret agent in a shroud of mystery and frozen evergreens and taught to fight like a hungry wolf. This wild child is no granola girl. A diet of Grimm stories and caribou jerky has prepared her to be a cold blooded killer, or so her father hopes. When it’s time to finally leave home her precision planned sting operation of a sweet sixteen hits a snag.

Illustration by Josh Sullivan – joshcomics.com

Feb 14th is Valentine’s Day, or as it’s known by sexual meteorologists, “The Hottest Day of the Year”. For those with a bold spirit it can be the perfect opportunity to swoop in and win over the heart and pants of that sexy special someone with only marginal credit card debt and a dash of charm.  Sure, some jaded souls may say Valentine’s is just a holiday made up by corporate America to sell cards, but for those who want to avoid the wrath of …

 Outrage
8 out of 10
Magnolia Pictures
Takeshi Kitano returns to the screen at the AFI Film Festival with this dark and violent look into the Yakuza world where family honor is everything, ultimate sacrifice is demanded, but true loyalty is rare.  The film is a window seat to a terse and bloody power play. Gang life is shown in a light that shows it as petty, cruel, opportunistic, and anything but slick, noble, and glamorous.  
Sometimes quiet, sometimes absurd, even heartbreaking , at the core this is an exploration of the perversion …

Guerilla Union, the mastermind behind The Paid Dues, Spring Gathering and Cypress Hill SmokeOut Festivals announced the line up of their flagship festival, Rock The Bells. In front of a smattering of journalists and bloggers, and for some reason Yours Truly, Supernatural freestyled the lineup the way that only he can.
The theme for this year’s festival seems to be “albums in their entirety,” as head Guerilla Chang Weisberg has somehow convinced Hip Hop legends The Wu-Tang Clan to perform their game-changing album Enter The 36 Chambers, KRS-One to perform Criminal …

At the 2010 Paid Dues Festival, Racketeers Dennis Chung and Gabriel Zuniga took a break from producing videos under the moniker of Original Knockoff, donned their finest coats, Gabe threw on the closest thing he had to bling, and they headed out to interview a slew of rappers that they knew very little about. Here we have the duo meeting up with Tech N9ne and label mates Kutt Calhoun and Krizz Kaliko.
Check the Racket Magazine YouTube Account for more interviews from Paid Dues with MC Prototype, Hopie Spithard, Afro Classics, …

So, we at Racket have done plenty to lurk around on the internet, but now you can download our 48-page Spring 2010 issue and enjoy it at whatever coffee shop that you are doing “homework” at, or when your dog pisses on your modem. With Coachella just around the corner, Racketeers give you the low-down on who to check out, who’s back together & how to avoid chaffing. We also have all the regular stuff you expect from Racket: reviews, previews, nonsense and more.

You can either click on the jump link to view it in your browser, or RIGHT CLICK HERE to save the file to your computer!

Our pals at ecosystem are giving away one of their recycled-material notebooks through everyone’s favorite waste of time: Twitter!
All you have to do is:
1) Sign in to your Twitter account
2) Add @ecosystemlife
3) Add @RacketMagazine
4) Go to www.ecosystemlife.com, pick a color of notebook
4) Post the following:
“I just entered to win a [*insert desired ecosystem color here] post-consumer notebook from @ecosystemlife and @RacketMagazine http://bit.ly/9k0SRh”
Contest will end on March 22, 2010 @ 11:59PM PST. Winner will be notified by Twitter Direct Message on Tuesday March 23, 2010 (so if you delete us …

GWAR
With uhhhh…some other bands who weren’t GWAR! (Job For a Cowboy, The Red Chord)
The Glasshouse, Pomona, CA
Here is how GWAR went:
- Pick up RacketMike
- Pick up a coupla forties and some single serving wine bottles
- Go to Pomona
- Drink booze
- Get tix
- Hear Job For a Cowboy from outside
- Go to Joey’’s BBQ for a pitcher of beer each
- Go to The Glasshouse
- GWARGWARGWARGWARbloodGWARGWARGWARObamaGWAR
- Go home
- Get bit in the face by a dog
- Booze
- Sleep
Man, GWAR rules.
–Jonathan Yost

     Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Snoop Dogg and DJ Quik concert at Club Nokia. In addition to those performances was the dance crew , The Syrenz, and Snoop Dogg Records artists, Nipsey Hussle and The Hustle Boyz. Apparently, there was quite a lot of hustlin’ goin on that night! But word, I was a little too late to catch The Syrenz and The Hustle Boyz after dealing with the hassle of parking at LA Live. It was pandemonium out there with the Lakers playing at …

FRIDAY
I’ve always considered Chicago to be America’s storage for cold, wind and uhhh, The Cubs. So, what could possibly make me go endure temperatures that I have only read about in books (the low 30’s!)? Screeching Fucking Weasel.
That’s right, Ben Weasel’s wily ass got back up to bat, and you’re damned right I traveled 2,000 miles simply for the chance that I would be able to scream along to “My Right” with one of my childhood heroes. Yes, yes, I know he’s been an asshole lately, but like a spouse …

Men Who Stare At Goats
Overture Films
8/10
Nearly every time I have seen George Clooney in a film, I think one of two things: “He was the WORST Batman” or “I wonder how E.R. ended.” Now was not one of those times. In Men Who Stare At Goats, Clooney and an accent-less Ewen MacGregor take a surreal journey through the borderlands of the U.S. military and the paranormal. I know, it’s fucking weird. However, with the help of a very despicable Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges being Dude-like once more, they pull …

Ludo
W/ Meese, Ha Ha Tonka and Without a Face
The Glasshouse, Pomona, CA
Last time I saw Ludo, they opened for Presidents of the United States of America and riding the high tide of their Love Me Dead single, now they were about to headline the night, and I have to tell you, I was pumped. So pumped I even watched ALL the opening bands.
First up was a tiny kid from Texas going by the moniker Without A Face. Clever, if not goofy, songs. Think Dashboard Confessional at the beginning and a …

The Dear Hunter
W/ Thursday, Fall Of Troy, Touche Amore
Forget the music for a moment. I have never seen so many beards on stage. Then again, I’ve never seen Bon Iver live. Beneath all the hair, The Dear Hunter was undeniably rocking the Glass House for a grand total of thirty minutes. The last time I remember thirty minutes go by so fast was when I got my first decent facial seven years ago. (No, that is not what she said.) Fortunately The Dear Hunter has a handful of dates with …