Lisa Katayama has an incredible gift for finding the absurd and writing about it in a really compelling way (usually combining a straight delivery with a genuine respect and curiosity), both on her blog and in her articles for Wired and other pubs (such as the one I work for in my day job).

She recently talked to the WSJ about virtual boyfriends, which are apparently becoming popular in Japan. The article says:

Sites like “Web Kare” (“Web Boyfriend,” at Web-Kare.jp) let users choose animated characters that live on their computers and cellphones; when prompted, they’ll tell you how great you look.

I love that “they’ll tell you how great you look” is the one feature mentioned.

Here are two of Lisa’s dating-related articles for Wired:

• Japan’s pick-up school.
• Love hotels photo gallery. (We discussed this, in a very uninformed way, in the Bros Roundtable a few months ago.)

Ed. note: I wordsmithed this about four times after I originally posted it, but it’s still not that well-written.