I didn't know about the pose, but I always use the log. The problem is, I don't want to check the wiki to know what gifts the villagers like, and I usually don't give any if I'm not sure they will like it (thanks to dialogue). Because of that, my social link with Linus took a lot of time to go up, Sandy is just beginning to warm up to me and I can't find any in-game info about Krobus's preferences. I'm not that close to Pierre, but his heart level is also really low because all he does is talking about his shop, never about his personal life and his preferences.
Anyways, another thing I found out is that if this log is open and one of the gifts listed is already in your inventory, a backpack icon will appear next to the square of the corresponding item.