Is this a men's problem?

A short post here, is this a men's problem? Or is it a problem that happens to some people in general?

(Conversation over MSN)
Someone: i need to write a damned essay on vietnam war
Joan: you shd be talking to *insert name of vietnamese friend* instead
Someone: it's vietnam war, maybe ask him about the landmines lying around or something
Someone: or maybe how to make bamboo cages
Joan: no leh...
Joan: he on the side of the americans leh
Someone: really ah?
Joan: his father fought for the americans
Joan: that's why he's blacklisted
Joan: he cannot become a minister next time

The thing was that this said Vietnamese friend brought up the matter of his heritage quite a couple of times, and I thought we all knew about it. Especially since Someone was the only one out of us who could pronounce the name of the Vietnamese friend. I can't.

The story doesn't end there as much as I'd like it to. The story continued on Monday during the class which we all had. After the class, Someone continued with his erm... questions?

Someone: *insert name of vietnamese friend* isn't here today
Joan: eh... He's in the US, for the symposium thingie.
Someone: oh yah. But I thought it's only for a few days?
Joan: eh... It's like 10-11 days leh...
Someone: oh is it?

I really don't know what to say already lor.

For me, I take pride in being able to remember useless details of what people say to me. I listen attentively, I understand empathetically, and I remember. I thought this is something natural when someone trusts another person enough to want to talk to the person. Okay, even when I read blogs, I can sort of vaguely remember some stuff about the details of people. Another Male Friend was quite surprised when I remembered some details about him and his brother and some other not quite useful stuff, but to me it's something natural to be able to remember such stuff.

I think it's to do with being able to communicate well, not just being able to talk well, but also being able to listen.