Diagnosis Murder

I was browsing a fandom meme where people were talking about their favorite Christmas specials/episodes, which reminded me of one of my own favorites: the episode of Diagnosis Murder (the tv show where Dick Van Dyke played a doctor who solves murders) in which Dr. Sloan's estranged daughter comes home near Christmas seeking shelter from her abusive husband.
( Cut for spoilers and some RL grumbling... )

Eatrip

I just finished watching the dvd Eatrip, a Japanese documentary that is "an exploration of the act of eating, both as an interaction among people and between people and nature." I rented it from Netflix mainly because actor Asano Tadanobu (Hogun in the Thor movies) appears in the film, and it was quite interesting. A diverse collection of people (ranging from Asano to a self-sufficient housewife living off the land to a very jolly and energetic 90-year-old Buddhist priest) talk about food and what it means to them.

In Asano's segment, a 15th-generation tea master conducts a tea ceremony for him. Asano seems a bit nervous, and admits that it's his first time and that he isn't sure what to do, but the tea master is very pleasant and easy-going as he explains the symbolic meaning behind the ceremony in a way that's easy for a beginner to understand; I found it very informative and enlightening, although the segment skips over certain steps in the ceremony (I assume due to time constraints). I was particularly interested in this part of the film because Onozuka and his co-stars attend a tea ceremony in my Haru fic "Unmasked"--and coincidentally, a character named Asano takes part in the ceremony, although the real life Asano seems much nicer than the scheming and jealous fictional Asano! ^_^