Sounds of silence

One of the many things I appreciated about Dexter was the fact that in most of the sex scenes, he actually sounded like he was enjoying it. Is it just me, or is it actually very rare in television or movies for men to make noise during sex? There is always plenty of moaning and panting from the woman, but the only time a man seems to make any noise is if he's getting a blow job, and then it only seems to be a little bit of sighing and restrained grunting.

If I wanted to apply a feminist analysis to this, I would probably say this was a power thing - that sexual interaction is intended to be demonstration of male domination, and any involuntary moaning or display of vulnerability from the man would contradict the notion of the powerful male working his will on a submissive female. However, I suppose it is more likely related to the same inherent prudishness in film and television that gives us ample female nudity but only the occasional glimpse of proper male nudity - and that hardly ever full-frontal. So I'm left wondering why it is worse to show a man's rude bits than a woman's...I know what I'd rather be looking at, for the most part. Maybe that's just it - too many men at the helm of films and television shows. There should be more women in control of popular media.

The year in review - so far

I have done a lot of sleeping. This may not be a bad thing necessarily, but it has left me wondering where the first few days of 2009 went.

I have also done some cooking. A while ago, I decided that I would endeavour to fix up my diet by eating small amounts of good food. This decision has been reinforced by my recent reawakening of enthusiasm for organic food and proper cooking. So far this year I have attempted three culinary tasks for the first time - making hollandaise, which was gorgeous; making mayonnaise, which needed a lot of flavour adjustment so it tasted of something other than oil; and jointing a chicken, which proved more fiendishly difficult than I had anticipated. So in that sense, at least, I think some progress has been made. Last night's tagine dish (the tagine being a christmas gift from japester) was not an unqualified success, but it was a good starting point for future experimentation. And it was certainly tasty.

Today marks my return to the land of SCA commitments. I have garb to make, and two weeks in which to make it before the midsummer feast. Time to get cracking, and spend my evenings on the couch stitching - fortunately I have lots of good DVDs awaiting viewing. I also have event planning to do. Running four events this year, in an effort to keep my enthusiasm alive for the next eight months. Roll on, August, I say...