Title: Tokyo Gore Police (Tôkyô zankoku keisatsu)
Starring: Eihi Shiina, Itsuji Itao, Yukihide Benny
Studio: Tokyo Shock
DVD Release Date: January 13, 2009
Language: Japanese
Rating: 2 Stars

The title says gore and gore is just what you get. Tokyo Gore Police, or Tôkyô zankoku keisatsu, presents to you an image of Tokyo that is dystopic to say the least. In Japan, the police have been privatized with a license to kill while a special breed of criminal runs amuck. These criminals are known as “engineers” because they can engineer their body into weapons. With each wound they receive, they can modify their body to become a weapon to further fight. Present in the body, a calling card of their nature, is a key shaped tumor. That is not the only problem in Japan, though. Throughout the movie are commercials presenting the viewer with images of what sort of society the people of the movie live in: suicide is a problem and it is popular to self harm. The main character, a cutter named Ruka, is part of a special task force whose job it is to hunt these mutant engineer criminals. Her memories are bitter with images of her father’s assassination, killed as he tried to protest the privatization of the police force he served dutifully.

The movie assaults you with blood and action from the first scene. The first scene of the movie is a fight between the police and a criminal who soon ends up with a chainsaw for an arm that he uses to hack away indiscriminately. Cue Ruka with swords, laying waste to the man. She is the type of woman that you don’t want to fondle on a subway, which one unfortunate man learned of when he had his arms cut off for doing so. More blood spurts out of the bodies in this movie than humanly possible! The movie has its slow parts, but it well makes up for them when the violence gets started.

This movie has it all: mutant strippers, samurai swords, a limbless bondage gimp, swords for arms, a penis canon, eye cannons, a man with no top skull, a woman with an alligator mouth looking thing for a bottom half, a snail woman, a school girl with a box cutter for an arm, video games where you kill people in real life, a canon that shoots fists… and much, much more. It’s the kind of movie that will make you laugh, scream, and shield your eyes with an, “OH MY GOD!” Sometimes at the same time. At times the plot and the props can get kind of campy, but everything is shadowed by a creepiness that is hard to shake. There’s just no moral rightness in this movie. Everyone is corrupt in their own unique way. The police force, a group meant to serve and protect, are some of the worst out there! Towards the end of the movie, they go on a killing rampage.

As a viewer, you may find yourself confused with certain scenes. The blood sprays everywhere, people move about with quickness, and some things are just so strange that they seem to have no possible explanation. There were moments when my eyes glossed over because all I saw going on in the movie was flashing bodies too quick to make any sense of, and a lot of pinkish red. If there is anything to criticize, it’s that… and, well, the campiness. But, I sort of expected that to be an aspect.

• Hardcover? Or paperback?
• Illustrations? Or just text?
• First editions? Or you don’t care?
• Signed by the author? Or not?

What kind of collectible books do I have in my collection? Signed uncorrected proofs, signed first edition hardbacks, signed paperback releases, signed ARCs, 200 year old books, hardback first editions… I have a lot of books that qualify as collectible. Usually, when I do, I got them from the author or I am such a big fan of the book that I purchase collectible versions when I also own my own reading paperback or hardback.

To be honest, it doesn’t really matter. I have collectible books that fit into all the above in some form.

A book is collectible for its own unique reasons. It doesn’t HAVE to be first edition, but it can be. It doesn’t HAVE to be signed, but it’s delightful if it is. I consider each book on its own to decide if it is collectible. Even if it may not be considered collectible in an official sense, it will be to be for my own reasons. Just… a special and important book in my collection.

Though, I have the say that the only one above that I don’t place value on one way or the other is illustration. I don’t collect books that have illustrations. I guess that’s because no book that I have wanted to collect has come out with an illustrated version.

I have drawn the number for the winner of Matrimony by Joshua Henkin…

The winning number is: 11

Winner:
cheryl k

I am going to email all of you now and request your addresses. If you did not get my email, leave me a comment here. Please send me your address in 3 days or else I will have to choose a new winner in your place.

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:
Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
Please avoid spoilers!

When Ava said that Philippe was out, he walked to her bedroom without thinking. He told her of the henchmen’s coming, and when she denied that Philippe had housed the Good Men from time to time, he said that all the village knew that Philippe was both a believer and an adulterer.

- The Good Men: A Novel of Heresy (Charmaine Craig), pg. 226

Here are the latest book giveaways I have come across in my travels through the world wide web. Whenever I see a book up for giveaway that I think sounds like a good read, I will post a link to the giveaway so that all of you, my readers, can go to the website and snag a chance to win for yourself. Below you will find cover images (clickable to their Amazon.com page), the name of the author, the name of the book, the link to the giveaway, and the date the contest ends. If you need any help or have any questions, feel free to comment.

If you are hosting a book giveaway and would like me to list it here, leave me a comment with the contest URL or send me an email at morbidromantic@gmail.com.

Win Linda Wisdom’s Wicked by Any Other Name at Bitten By Books
Contest ends February 26th

Win Casey Daniels’ Night of the Loving Dead at Bitten by Books
Contest ends February 27th

Win Micol Ostow’s Golden Girl at Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf
Contest ends February 28th

Win Michelle Moran’s The Heretic Queen at Diary of an Eccentric
Contest ends March 1st

Win Anton Strout’s Deader Still at Bitten By Books
Contest ends March 2nd

Win a copy of Sean Cummings’ Unseen World at Bad Juji
Contest ends March 2nd

Win Lorna Barrett’s Bookmarked For Death at Lori’s Reading Corner
Contest ends March 3rd

Win Helen Hollick’s The Kingmaking at Carp(e) Libris Reviews
Contest ends March 3rd

Win Alisa Libby’s The King’s Rose at Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf
Contest ends March 3rd

Win Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Raises Hell at Bitten By Books
Contest ends March 4th

Win Linda Wisdom’s Wicked By Any Other Name at Cheryl’s Book Nook
Contest ends March 7th

Win Neil Gaiman’s Coraline at Bermudaonion’s Weblog
Contest ends March 7th

Win a set of books from A Novel Menagerie
Contest ends March 8th

Win Mark Henry’s Happy Hour of the Damned at Amberkatze’s Book Blog
Contest ends March 8th

Win Carrie Vaugh’s Kitty and the Midnight Hour at Drey’s Library
Contest ends March 8th

Win Bruce Skye’s Grayrider at Peeking Between the Pages
Contest ends March 9th

Win Elise Chidley’s Your Roots are Showing at S. Krishna’s Books
Contest ends March 9th

Win Jacqueline Winspear’s Among the Mad at The Tomb Traveller’s Weblog
Contest ends March 9th

Win Robin Palmer’s Geek Charming at TV and Book Addict
Contest ends March 10th

Win Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler’s The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection at The Tomb Traveller
Contest ends March 11th

Win Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak at:
Reviewer X – Contest ends March 12th
Presenting Lenore – Contest ends March 13th

Win Jillian Cantor’s The September Sisters at Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf
Contest ends March 13th

Win Jillian Cantor’s The September Sisters at YA Book Realm
Contest ends March 13th

Win Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler’s The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection at So Many Precious Books, So Little Time
Contest ends March 13th

Win Carolyn Jewel’s My Wicked Enemy at Brenda’s Blog
Contest ends March 13th

Win Kate Perry’s Marked by Passion at Maymay’s Memos
Contest ends March 15th

Win Dan Simmons’ The Drood from:
Savvy Verse and Wit – Contest ends March 6th
Bermudaonion – Contest ends March 8th
Drey’s Library – Contest ends March 8th
Booking Mama – Contest ends March 13th
The Tomb Traveller – Contest ends March 13th
A Bookworm’s World – Contest ends March 20th

I have been given the amazing opportunity to give out 5 copies of Sway by Zachary Lazar.

Zachary Lazar, who took his title from the Keith Richards song of the same name on the Sticky Fingers album, was an infant in the closing years of the 1960s. He therefore writes from copious research rather than memory, but the novel seems to be the appropriate form for his story. Several critics expressed surprise that there could be anything new to say about the overanalyzed decade, but with the exception of the Toronto Star, they agreed that Lazar offers fresh insight into the era’s more ominous undercurrents. Critics praised his vivid, sparkling prose and his success in depicting characters already so well known, as he strips them bare of myth and legend and renders them completely human. “Lazar makes the atmosphere of a decade almost palpable,” claims the Boston Globe, and readers just may forget that Sway is a work of fiction. Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

So now… GIVEAWAY! Would you like the chance to win a copy of Sway by Zachary Lazar? This is your lucky night. There are a number of ways you can win this book, each good for one entry each. For each entry, leave me a separate comment. Also, make sure that you leave me a way to contact you if you win. 1.) Leave a comment below telling me that you’d like to win. 2.) Blog about this contest and leave a comment with the links. 3.) Add me on twitter (@morbidromantic) and Tweet this contest then comment with a link to the Tweet or your username. 4.) Stumble this giveaway or my main site and comment with your StumbleUpon username. 5.) Add my RSS reader here and leave me a comment telling me that you subscribe to my feed. 6.) Comment on any of my previous blog posts and leave me a comment telling me that you have. If you do all of the above, you will get six entries. That’s six chances to win. Winners will be selected on 11:59pm EST on March 9th. I will be using Random.org to select the winner. When you win, I will send you an email asking for your physically mailing address, which you have 3 days to respond to before new winners are selected. No PO Boxes. This contest is open for only the US and Canada.

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