Oh How Nifty - Look Who's 50!!

Happy Birthday, gorgeous! 

From this fresh-faced, very youthful kid in Nightmare on Elm Street:

...to this mature, ridiculously beautiful and talented man:

WOW.

As the Grateful Dead said: "What a long, strange trip it's been."

Congratulations, Johnny, on another trip around the sun. Here's to many more!

Happy 14th, Lily-Rose!

Here's hoping she has a wonderful birthday today!

Happy 11th, Jack!

Today, Jack Depp is 11 years old!

Happy happy birthday Jack! Hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Fan Art Friday: Depp's Characters

Can you name all the characters here? I can!

Fan Art Friday: Barnabas Collins

Nice one of Barnabas Collins!

Johnspiration

These are the photos I've found, so far, that inspire me to do more to take care of my health and to get in better shape. Look, if Johnny can look this good at nearly 50 years old, then I have no excuse at only 43. Yes, it is true I am a type 2 diabetic, and I have to watch what I put in my mouth and I do have to exercise and diabetes does NOT take a day off. I have to do this every day.

So far, I'm doing well; my sugar is under control and so much about my metabolism  has changed - my weight has come down (nearly 40 pounds at this point), my blood pressure has improved (not that it was high to begin with), my triglycerides & cholesterol have normalized, and things are going great.

I hope to keep this up. All I have to do is keep these images of Johnny in my mind and tell myself  "if he can, I can too!"

I find myself wondering what he'd make of that....

Johnny's Black Hat

 

Just for the record - it seems he's had this hat since at least April of 2012.

There are those out there who believe this hat, with its feather, was gifted to him by the Comanches when he was adopted into their tribe. This is not the case. This very photo was taken prior to that ceremony, and as we can see, he has the hat and the feather. 

Chances are it is simply a turkey feather; men's hats often have them attached to the hatband. 

He also wore this hat when he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel's show, which happened prior to the Comanche adoption. 

Just wanted to put that out there. 

Fan Art Friday: The Gift

 

And what a cute gift he makes!

Nobody's Perfect

Maybe he's right.

Except when it comes to me! Haha!

But I actually don't really have much about me that's different or quirky or whatever. So therefore, I'm one of the weirdest people of all, according to JD - I'm quite vanilla and ordinary and uninteresting.

But I just wanted to put that out there.

Giggles with Johnny

A collection of funny Johnny moments. He's a funny guy.

Depp Men: Generations

Top: John Christopher Depp, Sr - Johnny's dad. He was kinda hot in his youth.
Center: John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II, looking ridiculously hot. Hot on levels that should be completely illegal.
Bottom: John Christopher "Jack" Depp III, Johnny's thoroughly adorable son, who is going to be a serious heartbreaker in his time.

Yep, you can see the Depp resemblance, all the way down the line.

Fan Art Friday: Depp Shredding

Johnny Shreds!

Fan Art Friday: So Scandalous Video

I'm going to leave this right here....

Fan Art Friday: Fear & Loathing

Again - amazing use of color here.

I tend to like fan art that is something out of the ordinary, and something that at least looks like it could have been done by hand. I don't really go in for simple photoshop jobs, like this:

I say that shows little to no creativity at all. It's just taking an already-existing photo of Johnny and using it as-is on a holiday background. Oh wow, as if millions of other people couldn't do the same thing. 

I say, at least make your fan art look like you could have painted it by hand, or drawn it, etc. Make it cool and interesting and really unique. 

Fan Art Friday: Depp as Che

Oh my. Someone went there.

Here's the iconic photo of Che himself:

And of course, we all know about Johnny's Che necklace:

Well, I suppose if someone were to do an American remake of The Motorcycle Diaries, Johnny could play Che. Even though he's going to be 50 this coming June, he's fortunate enough to have maintained his youthful looks, so he could pass for the 39 years old that Che was when he was executed in 1967. I wonder if anyone has ever approached Johnny about this.

Now, as a way of maintaining balance, have a look at this article which does describe some of the darker aspects of Che's ways and the Cuban world he lived in, including this excerpt:

In a famous speech in 1961 Che Guevara denounced the very “spirit of rebellion” as “reprehensible.” “Youth must refrain from ungrateful questioning of governmental mandates” commanded Guevara. “Instead they must dedicate themselves to study, work and military service.”

And woe to those youths “who stayed up late at might and thus reported to work (government forced-labor) tardily.” Youth, wrote Guevara, ” should learn to think and act as a mass.” “Those who chose their own path” (as in growing long hair and listening to Yankee-Imperialist Rock & Roll) were denounced as worthless “lumpen” and “delinquents.” In his famous speech Che Guevara even vowed, “to make individualism disappear from Cuba! It is criminal to think of individuals!”

Tens of thousands of Cuban youths learned that Che Guevara’s admonitions were more than idle bombast. In Che Guevara the hundreds of Soviet KGB and East German secret police STASI “consultants” who flooded Cuba in the early 60′s, found an extremely eager acolyte. By the mid 60′s the crime of a “rocker” lifestyle or effeminate behavior got thousands of youths yanked off Cuba’s streets and parks by secret police and dumped in prison camps with “Work Will Make Men Out of You” in bold letters above the gate (the one at Auschwitz’ gate read: “Work Will Set You Free) and with machine gunners posted on the watchtowers. The initials for these camps were UMAP, not GULAG, but the conditions were much the same.

Hmmmm. Had JD taken this into consideration when he bought his Che necklace? Considering that Johnny himself is a high school dropout - he never served in the military - he likes to wear his hair long - he plays rock music - he's rather an individualist - he has chosen his own path in life and his acting career - it seems Johnny himself is exactly what would have given Che serious heartburn; if Che could see Johnny right now, Che would be reaching for the Tums. I wonder if Johnny is aware of this?

Fan Art Friday: Charcoal

Wow. Very nice. I wonder if he's seen any of these, and if he likes them if he has?

Fan Art Friday: Captain Jack Sparrow

How very creative! Love the colors used in this one.

Here's another really good one:

And another beautiful black/white drawing of Captain Jack:

This one absolutely cracked me up:

As did this one:

Johnny on Inside the Actor's Studio

Johnny On Music

Click the pic to enlarge.

I think I know how he feels. I don't play an instrument, but I sing, and music has always been able to take me to a whole other world, and change my attitude about life when things get rough.

So on that level, sometimes I feel like he's very much a kindred spirit....

Johnny's Gonzo Pendant & His Faith

In this photo, viewers can see a silver pendant gleaming brightly against Johnny's black shirt.

Some people have assumed this is a cross, and they take it he is a Christian.

But this jewel isn't a cross. It's something he wears in honor of his late friend, Hunter S. Thompson, gonzo journalist. Here's a larger photo of that pendant:

It's a dagger, topped with a double-thumbed fist that is clutching a red jewel; the red jewel represents a peyote button. The word "gonzo," situated just below the fist, makes it look like a cross. I think Johnny also has this image tattooed somewhere on his body but I'm not too sure.

If Johnny was a devout Christian, he'd wear a cross, and he'd wear it where it could clearly be seen. He'd also speak of God or Jesus Christ every so often, but he doesn't. I have my doubts that any evangelical, believing Christian would have played on that Babybird song, "Jesus Stag Night Club," which Johnny did, and which is one of his choices that I myself didn't really care for, but it's not up to me to run his career for him!

In 2011, Larry King asked him directly if he had faith, and Depp replied:

I have faith in my kids. Yeah, I have faith in my kids. And I have, I have faith, you know, as long as you keep moving forward, just keep walking forward things will be alright, I suppose, you know. Faith in terms of religion, I don’t; religion is not my specialty.

If he was a devout, believing Christian he would not have responded to Larry King in this way; Christians (particularly evangelical ones) are more than happy to share the Word of God with anyone who 'has ears to hear.' Johnny has never done this.

He has made some other, very interesting statements about God, such as:

Question: "Do you believe in God?"
JD: "I believe in something. If it's called God, I don't know."

Question: "Do you believe in God, in destiny?"
JD: "Yes, I believe in destiny. There has to be to a reason for all this, a driving force, even if we can't fully understand it. That I'm here, that I've been blessed with the work I've done, with the girl I have, the children I have. I don't know if I would call it God. My image of God has evolved, by the way: from the wise old man with a white beard on a fluffy cloud from my childhood years he has changed into a cosmic omnipresence, from the air to the trees, and all possible human and animal creatures. I surely don't go to church. Organized religion doesn't appeal to me. Probably because of my childhood: my uncle was a preacher and he was constantly talking about hell and damnation. Not my scene."

Question: "It would seem that Americans strongly believe in God. Co-actress Christina Ricci believes in God. Well, do you believe in God?"
JD: "I want to believe in God. I mean I think I am a believer."

So he has questions. A lot of people do. Given Johnny's native American heritage, I would not be surprised if he felt a certain affinity towards native animist spirituality, but it remains to be seen if he does or not. So far as I know, outside of his adoption into the Comanche tribe/family (I'm not quite sure of the details of this), he's never participated in native ceremonies like sweat lodges or dances or pow-wows or whatever.

So I just thought I'd put that out there. Wherever he is in his spiritual walk, it is where he needs to be right now.

Depp's Lily-Rose Tattoo

I had to have a shot of Johnny's Lily-Rose tattoo. I find it so lovely, that he has his daughter's name permanently inscribed directly over his heart.

From Don Juan de Marco

Very romantic music, quite suitable for such a romantic picture such as Don Juan.

What a perfect choice for this movie.

I'm just sayin'...

At World's End Sword Practice

I found this video on YouTube and I have to admit, as a person who is a medieval re-enactor and who sees people sword-fighting all the time - he does a pretty good job up there! I think I read somewhere that he's sort of taken to fencing and occasionally practices in his spare time; I wish I could figure out more about that. I think he makes a very dashing, romantic figure with a sword or epee in his hand, having a go at his opponent. :)

I wonder how we can convince him to come to one of our events so we can armor him up and turn him loose on our steel weapons list. Hell, I wonder if he's strong enough to bear the weight of the armor that our steel fighters wear! Hahaha!

Well, a girl can dream....

Johnny At Pettyfest

Found this beautiful photo of Johnny Depp playing at Petty Fest, November 2012.

I like seeing Johnny with a guitar slung over his shoulders. He seems so happy when he's playing. As we know, music is Johnny's first love, and he plays as often as he can. Seems to me that of late, he's been doing a lot more of the music thing - maybe, now that he knows he doesn't have to earn his living by it, he feels like he can focus a bit more on music than he was able to way back in the day, before he started acting.

Good on ya, Johnny. You go.

First Post

And it seems to me this is a nice way to start things out.

I'm not quite sure what kind of direction this blog will go in - just celebrating all things Johnny Depp and things related to Johnny Depp.

Some of the related things might shade a bit controversial; Johnny has led a rather nonstandard life and sometimes he says nonstandard things or hangs out with nonstandard people. He can be a bit of an eyebrow-raiser, and he can get people's tongues wagging about stuff. Even I have some opinions about some of the things he's said and done, and I don't always agree with him. Yet, that's kind of the spice of life - not everyone has to agree with everyone else about everything, all the time.

But for now...this beautiful photo will do for a start. I am not sure what this event is, where he turned up looking this sharp. If anyone knows, comment!