the dope report

• Final Fantasy XIII (Playstation 3, Xbox 360)

  One of the most celebrated video game franchises makes its next gen console debut. Expect an epic RPG sure to lay waste to your social life.

• Gorillaz – Plastic Beach (CD)

  Your favorite band consisting of animated primates returns with their 3rd studio album. You’ve got ample time to take it in before their upcoming appearance at this year’s Coachella music festival.

• Capitalism: A Love Story (DVD, Blu-Ray)

  Michael Moore’s latest doc examines America’s fascination with making rich people richer and taking a fat shit on everyone else.

High Times has christened a new medical marijuana quarterly magazine, as well as a California-based Medical Cannabis Cup, and its first-ever West Coast office. Good luck to them.

The High Times Medical Marijuana News and Reviews is an all-new newsstand magazine focused on the needs of medical cannabis patients and providers nationwide.

HIGH TIMES is also proud to announce that our first annual Medical Cannabis Cup will be held this June 19-20, in San Francisco. Modeled after the HIGH TIMES Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, this new competition will include expert judging of the best and most medicinal cannabis, hashish and edibles from California’s legal medical marijuana dispensaries.

To coordinate these new ventures, and to continue the magazine’s comprehensive coverage of the emerging medical marijuana movement, HIGH TIMES will soon open its first ever West Coast Office, headed by Senior Editor David Bienenstock, a seven year veteran of the magazine and author of The Official HIGH TIMES Pot Smoker’s Handbook.

Who could possibly hate decriminalizing a harmless plant, and saving countless corrections and law enforcement dollars? A dickhead from San Diego, of course. (San Diego would be great if it wasn’t for so many right-wing, racist residents.)

While Assemblyman Tom Ammiano is pushing to pass a modestly reworked new pot measure, Assembly Bill 2254, that would legalize marijuana use for California adults 21 and over and give the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control authority to tax and regulate pot like booze.

His enemy: John Redman, executive director of the San Diego-based California Alliance for Drug Free Youth, who says: “There are groups and organizations ready to fight this. They have awoken a sleeping giant.”

Bring it on, fuckface.

[Sacramento Bee]

U.S. authorities have temporarily closed their consulate in the Mexican city of Reynosa due shootouts between the Gulf drug cartel and former allies “Los Zetas,” a band of special forces deserters turned hired guns.

In different cities in Tamaulipas signs have been appearing – allegedly signed by the Gulf cartel – calling upon the public to remain calm and assuring that the organization does not threaten the population.

[LAHT]

Not only does Maynard James Keenan make crazy-as-shit art metal, he also makes delicious wine from the deserts of Arizona. The limited release Blood Into Wine documents Keenan’s newfound interest in oenology, alongside hilarious pals like Patton Oswalt, Bob Odenkirk, Tim Heidecker, and Eric Wareheim. Blood Into Wine opens in select theaters nationwide throughout the spring. [Blood Into Wine]

From Latin American Herald Tribune:

Costa Rican authorities seized approximately 3 tons of cocaine being transported by truck … in what appeared to be one of the biggest drug busts in recent years. ... The officials are weighing the drug packages to confirm the amount seized, and if it is confirmed that there are 3 tons, it will be the second biggest drug bust in recent years, surpassed only by the 6 tons found in a homemade submarine that was sailing in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Costa Rica in September 2008.

Costa Rica has gone “from being a country for drug transit to a country that is a drug warehouse, where some organizations are operating in collaboration with the big drug cartels,” Security Minister Janina Del Vecchio said this week.

• Where the Wild Things Are (DVD, Blu-Ray)

  Spike Jonze takes one of the most beloved children’s stories and turns it into the longest, most awesome music video ever made.

• Ponyo (DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack)

  The latest from Japan’s most prolific animated filmmaker, Hayao Miyazaki brings us a tale of a boy and his goldfish that turns into a girl for some reason.

• Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC)

  EA’s alternative to Modern Warfare 2, as if you really needed one. Drive vehicles and destroy environments while getting your kill on.

• MLB 10 The Show (Playstation 3, PSP, Playstation 2)

  Sony’s exclusive franchise prides itself on being the most realistic baseball simulation each season. How real? So real that steroid-era players like Nomar Garciaparra and Eric Gagne are injury-prone and mere shadows of their past selves.

Mad props for our long-time favorite Oakland metal band High on Fire, who just netted a 90 Metacritic for their new album Snakes for the Divine. Even the New York Times likes it, which can’t be good for local metal credibility.