I don’t know if you’ve heard about A Game Of Thrones, I heard chatter about it earlier this year on Twitter and wanted to see for myself if it lived up to the praise heaped upon it. I’m confident enough to say that it certainly does and delivers it in spades. I ended up watching the entire first season of the show in one sitting!

The show is based on a series of books by George R. R. Martin and although I haven’t had a chance to read any of them yet, reviews seem to suggest that he follows in the footsteps of the likes of Tolkein. The production value of each episode easily rivals that of something like Lord Of The Rings and the narrative is so rich and interesting, the acting is excellent and the girls are gorgeous. I’m eagerly anticipating the second series.

In the meantime, I think I’m going to have to pick up the books as I can’t wait to find out what happens next!

It was quite a few years ago now that I first heard the news that Katsuhiro Otomo — Director of one of my favourite films Akira — was collaborating on a project for television called Freedom Project. Having never been released in Europe it has proven to be extremely difficult to get a hold of.

I’m glad I’ve finally seen the series, although I wouldn’t say it was spectacular by any means it’s enjoyable and Otomo’s design work is really striking which particularly appeals to me. There’s a great blog that I follow by one of the production team which I recommend you visit.

Five recently showcased a travelogue presented by Justin Lee Collins in his quest to get to grips with Japanese Culture. Although the show missteps at times and falls victim for the obvious cultural oddities that most Western shows immediately gravitate towards like ‘Love Dolls‘ and ‘Capsule Hotels‘ it does manage to offer some far more interesting cultural phenomena like Manzai and Kidzania. If you missed it you can quickly catch up online here.

There was a documentary on BBC Three a few weeks ago about a British schoolgirl from the Isle of Man, called Beckii: Schoolgirl Superstar at 14. She became an internet sensation after uploading a video of herself dancing to YouTube, that interest mostly came from Japan. The documentary follows her journey to fame, across Tokyo and London.

The film explores the fascinating world of Japanese anime and manga – crazes that grip millions in Japan and tens of thousands here – and shows that other girls see Beckii’s success and decide they too might like to be big in Japan. But although getting famous seems as simple as uploading a crazy dance, the implications of being famous at 14 are anything but straightforward.

The Japanese film critic Jasper Sharp tweeted about a fantastic documentary on BBC Four about North Korea called “Kim Jong-Il’s Comedy Club“. Catch it online while you can!

A journalist with no scruples and a pair of Danish comedians travel to North Korea with a mission to use humour to uncover the truth behind one of the world’s most notorious regimes. On the pretext of being a small Danish theatre troupe on a cultural exchange, the filmmaker was granted permission by the North Korean government to stage a performance for a select audience in the capital.

In reality, the troupe was comprised of an unscrupulous journalist, Mads Brugger, and two Danish/Korean comedians, Jacob and Simon, of whom the former is handicapped. Their goal is to use humour to expose the intricate effects of an oppressive regime.

The film follows the troupe as they are lovingly yet firmly escorted by a motherly government employee around the important historical sights, and as they ‘collaborate’ with other government officials on their performance. Their double life is wearing on Jacob who feels conflicting emotions of affection and hatred for his hosts. With a sensibility similar to that of Lars Von Trier’s controversial film The Idiots, this documentary takes a darkly humorous look inside the North Korean dictatorship.

North Korea’s 23 million citizens are ruled by the iron hand of ‘The Dear Leader’, General Kim Jong-il. The country has a history of starving its people, violating human rights and abusing and killing its handicapped citizens.

Along with watching “The Foreign Duck, The Native Duck And God” I’ve also been distracting myself with an old animated show from Japan called Basilisk. It was reviewed recently on AnimeTV and having never heard of it before I thought I’d consider checking it out.

If you’re looking to check out new anime, then AnimeTV’s the place to do it. You can watch a ton of shows from all corners of the genre, and whether you’re catching the odd episode of Basilisk in between Party Poker sessions, or you plan to get some friends over and delve into a whole new series. A goldmine, and it was how I had the chance to check Basilisk out.

To be honest, I’ve not been especially interested in Animé series other than “Neon Genesis Evangelion” which seems to be a master-work of a lot of the themes and ideas that subsequent series and films have evolved from.

So Basilisk is it any good? Well I would say it definitely, apparently it’s based loosely on the true story of fighting factions in feudal Japan. It’s also produced by the same studio that created “Afro Samurai” which along with the recommendation by AnimeTV encouraged me to give the series a go. So if you like the idea of watching Ninjas flipping out and stuff, you’ll certainly enjoy this. Seriously, Ninjas flipping out!!!

Japan is the world’s third largest economy. It’s a place where work is taken very seriously indeed – but so, too, is entertainment. And there is nothing the Japanese like better than losing themselves in fantasy, particularly the country’s famous animation films. This film follows the fortunes of Kaori, an animation student, who works long, long hours painstakingly producing frame by frame her animation film.

The dude above is a famous Japanese actor, he was part of a really successful band (that I’d never heard of) and starred in a drama that I surprisingly enjoyed.

According to news reports, he was recently found naked and drunken in the middle of a park after a drinking spree with friends.

“What’s wrong with being naked?” the music and television superstar is said to have screamed as the arresting officers dodged his flailing fists and attempted to wrap him in a plastic tarpaulin.

Unfortunately for him since the incident many of his advertising partners have dropped him due to the national outcry. I for one am very sympathetic to his predicament, it’s not like we’ve not all been there at some point! Enjoying the company of friends on a night out, talking and laughing, ending up in a park in the buff, Right? Right!?

Fresh Verse seems to be a website delivering online Japanese television, which is pretty neat.