Never watched it, but that sounded like fun. Cheers.

I absolutely love Ghibli's version of Howl's Moving Castle. As a film, it has wonderful pacing, and Sophia may be even more appealing when you don't realize she is gifted too. One of the best things about the movie is appreciating the young spirit that can still be inside an older person, and it actually comes off as showing a spirited 'muggle' as valuable in this magical situation, which is a rare thought in entertainments these days. I felt it made the movie a little stronger that Sophie was adding her two sensible cents to events despite the 'scary' powers of the wizards, witches, and king's armies. That was very courageous of her. :D

OTOH, the Sophie of the books who is learning to believe in herself and her gifts is also quite a fun character.

I found Fireflies to be a bit grim, honestly. Its very well done, but such a sad subject. Its moving, like Letters from Iwo Jima, but I didn't want to watch that movie twice either. Since I actually like rather a lot of Disney (especially Pixar) stuff, I guess it figures that Ponyo would appeal to me. ;-)

Not when you choose to wear assless-chaps (see attached picture). I'm sorry to tell you, but those sir, are not pants :-). They fail to cover vital areas that would make them pants. So until you put some proper trousers on, I will be forced to concentrate on your peeping eye :-).

I agree with you on both points, about Ghibli's version of Howl's Moving Castle and the Grave of the Fireflies. I am still a much bigger fan of the book over the anime of Howl's Moving Castle, but it is still a wonderful story with some very nice characters.

I would watch Howl's Moving Castle anytime, but I would have to be in the right mood to watch Fireflies, just because of its story. It is a beautiful piece of anime though and I would recommend it to everyone, even if they only watch it once. The fact that a cartoon can have such strong plot elements and emotional story shows just how good anime can be for serious topics, as well as for fun topics.

Do they both taste the same, jelly and jam? I have never tried (American) jelly so I am not sure if there is any real difference in taste, or if it is just a different texture.

XD - you seem to know all the ins and outs about men's apparel... ~_^

I always thought assless-chaps were unisex, not just men's apparel. The last person I saw wearing them was a woman on T.V., though she had pants on underneath.

Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that ALL chaps are assless (making it a redundant statement). Were they not designed to protect one's pants as a supplementary item? Is it not par for the course to wear pants with chaps in any working situation? I've never worn chaps, but I've always been confused by this statement ...

Edit: By the way, cool giveaway : D I'm not in, but I appreciate the sentiment. Also, thanks for your general generosity as well DD!

Kinda half-arsed. ~_^

On a more serious note, Narcia_ is correct regarding the purpose and usage of chaps.

You are completely correct. As far as I know, they are indeed a supplementary item of clothing to protect the pants. I guess because they are considered to go with pants, that as they are pointless without pants, that the term assless-chaps came around to describe people (like Hyper ;-) ) who wear them with no pants. A clearly redundant statement that somehow still manages to have a purpose, isn't the English language grand :-).

oO As protection for pants? Aren't pants usually damaged in the crotch after a certain mileage of walking? What use is protection for the legs? I always thought those things are purely a certain style and don't serve any practical purpose outside of horse riding maybe, but who does this all day anymore?

My apologies for unwittingly genderbendering you! Maybe it's because your forum title says "wallflower" and in German, all flowers are female. The sun is also female, contrary to Latin where both the sun and flower are male.

That brings the F.A.S. Index (Female Appreciation of Strategy Index) down from 73% to 70%.

Only if you have balls of steel and they got rusty.

Eh, it's fine. Not the first time people has confused me for being female on the internet. :P

Been there. People often think I'm human, haha.

Are you a four hundred foot tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings?

Thanks for the clarification! (also to HypersomniacLive)

English is hilarious. I love it. I guess "assless chaps" came into fashion because people like to be cheeky (pun kind of intended) and like to say ass a lot. I might have coined "pantless chaps" or "pants free chaps" or something instead.