Makiko Itoh : Not a nameless cat.

I caught the last half of a somewhat quirky documentary on BBC Two the other night, called The New Middle Classes (it was part of the excellent Time Shift series). While it was talking about the "new middle classes" in the UK (which still has to be one of the most class-conscious nations in the world), one point they made rings true, I think, for 'middle class' people everywhere: the sense of guilt alleviation and self-satisfaction that is brought along by doing the 'right things'.

I find this story in USA Today about more American men taking their wives' last names (via kottke) rather interesting as a snapshot of gender attitudes. My impression of the American Male is that a lot of them are awfully defensive about their masculinity, much more so than men elsewhere, which explains the "sissy juice" comments received by Sam Van Hallgren (who, incidentally, is co-host of the one podcast besides This American Life that I listen to religiously, Filmspotting.)

In Japan, men have been taking their wives' last names for a long time. This may seem surprising in light of the view of Japanese society as being very male dominant. In fact, it's done for practical, usually business, purposes. If the woman's family has a well known business which is run as a family concern, and the man marrying the woman is going to enter, and eventually take over, that business, he is legally adopted by the woman's family and thus takes her surname along with it. This is called becoming a yo-shi. The word and concept is the same as for a child being adopted.

I am one of the fairly large and vocal minority of people who are skeptical about the usefulness of Twitter. I don't see how it's better at communication with people I know than the phone, email, Skype (Skype IM is a very useful tool for people you are frequently on the phone with), IM, IRC channels, snailmail letters, what have you. And I am not that interested in what people I don't know are eating for dinner. Heck I'm not that interested in what people I do know are having for dinner, unless they can write it up and photograph it beautifully and give me the recipes (yay for food blogs).

I have always been an early adopter of non-computer Apple products. I got two (yes, two) Newtons. As soon as I saw the first iPod, I put a pre-order in for one. (Unfortunately that original iPod was lost by someone, not me (cough) on a plane going from Atlanta to Orlando in 2005.) I have owned 3 iPods so far.

While the iPhone is very beautiful, I am not as enamoured of it as many people seem to be. This is partly due to the iPhone itself, and the choices made for it (closed system, grr), and partly due to my reluctance to put so much into a cell phone.

I own a cell phone, of course. It's a necessary evil of modern life. I think my current one is my 6th or 7th - I've lost count. I like it well enough - it is triband, so I can use it in the U.S. as well as Europe, it takes messages, I can text message on it okay, and so on. It even has a Walkman in it if I chose to use it, and I use it quite often as a backup camera. (It's great for sneaking shots in a store that doesn't allow you to shoot pictures.)

I am pretty sure that the ancients started the winter festivals that have evolved into our modern Christmas, New Years and other holidays because winter can be so depressing otherwise. I feel this so much more in Switzerland than I did in New York, even after about a decade or so of living here off and on. Most years, if I had a choice, I'd go somewhere - anywhere but here - during January and February.