Famous fathers in pop culture

Today is 「父の日」 (Fathers Day).

My wife and daughters made a delicious Mexican dinner and gave me some new clothes for a Fathers Day present.
Wonderful gifts!

For my Fathers Day blog post, I thought I’d mention the first five famous fathers in pop culture that I thought of, whether they are fictional or “real”.

So, here’s my list (in no particular order):

—Homer Simpson—

The cartoon father figure of the American TV series “The Simpsons” is a selfish, clumsy, overweight, accident-prone father of three.
He works in a nuclear power plant but treats his responsibilities with the same importance as he does with everything else in his life…not much.

Despite all of his flaws, his family always supports him.

—Archie Bunker—

If you lived in America during the ’70s, then you surely know who Archie Bunker is.
He was the father figure on the popular (during the ’70s) American TV sit-com series.

On the surface, he seemed obnoxious, impatient and un-accepting of anyone different from himself. But, as much as he tried to hide it, he actually had a good heart and would stand up and help others.

—Ozzy Osbourne—

This is the only person on my list who isn’t a fictional character…but in many ways Ozzy Osbourne’s life has been “stranger than fiction”.

He was the original lead vocalist of the English heavy metal band “Black Sabbath” but had even more success as a solo artist after he was fired from the band he helped form.
He was infamous during the early years of his solo career for such antics as biting the heads off of a dove and a bat (on two separate occasions) and urinating on “The Alamo”, a landmark in the U.S. state of Texas (which got him banned from that state for over a decade).

In the early 2000’s, he (and most of his family) became more famous for their reality show on MTV titled “The Osbournes” about their unconventional family life.

—Baka-bon-no-papa—

The Japanese cartoon 「天才バカボン」 (“Tensai-Bakabon“) is actually named after the son, who is a foolish boy…but his father, simply called “Bakabon’s papa” is even dumber than his son and has become the most famous character in the Japanese comic book and TV cartoon series.

—Darth Vader—

The scene where Darth Vader revealed that he was Luke Skywalker's father.

Darth Vader has always been my favorite Star Wars character. He made a big impression when I was seven years old and saw him for the first time.
It was also quite a shock when I was ten and Darth Vader said “Luke, I am your father!”.

—-
What famous pop culture fathers can you think of?

(And, to my own father…Happy fathers day.)

私は日本人になる

One of my favorite musicians, Ozzy Osbourne, had a popular reality TV show about his family life titled “The Osbournes“.

He, his wife Sharon and his two youngest children Jack and Kelly were the regular stars (Ozzy’s older son Louis appeared in the series occasionally…but his daughter Aimee refused to ever appear).

Ozzy’s son, Jack Osbourne, became overweight…so he went on an extreme exercise and diet regime.
It was all recorded as Jack’s own reality show and is now available on DVD in Japan.

The title of Jack’s show in Japan is 「アドレナリン・ダイエット」 (“Adrenaline Diet“).

Here’s an ad for it on DVD:

And Ozzy’s daughter Kelly Osbourne also has her own reality show now too.

Ever since her first visit to Tokyo, Kelly has fallen in love with this city and the culture.
So the premise of her reality show is that she stayed in Japan for five weeks and worked at a variety of unusual, only-in-Japan types of jobs to see if she would still love this country after working in love hotels, maid cafes, a Japanese school, etc.

The name of her show in Japan is 「私は日本人になる」 (“(I’m) Turning Japanese“).

Here are a couple of ads for her reality show on DVD (one in English and the other in 日本語 (Japanese)):

I Am Ozzy

Do you know who Ozzy Osbourne is?

Are you a fan?
Hopefully you know more about him than the MTV reality show about his family life called “The Osbournes“!

In the 1970’s, Ozzy was the lead vocalist of the epic heavy metal band from England, “Black Sabbath“.

His drug and alcohol problems caused him to get kicked out of the band that he helped found.
After that he was ready to give up on rock ‘n roll…but the daughter of Black Sabbath‘s manager became the manager of his solo career and she eventually became his wife.

With her help, Ozzy Osbourne became more popular as a solo artist than when he was with Sabbath.

Ozzy‘s antics in his younger days are infamous though.

For example, when his manager / soon-to-be wife was trying to get Ozzy a record contract for his solo career (which was no small feat due to his well-known addiction problems), she suggested that he show up to the meeting with the record executives with some white doves as a sign of peace.
But he showed up drunk…and bit the head of one of the doves clean off!

It made quite the impression!
He got the record deal but was forbidden from stepping foot in the record company’s office again!

Another time, during a concert, a fan threw a live bat onto the stage…and Ozzy bit that animal’s head off too! (He had to get rabies shots after that).

At one time in the 1980s, Ozzy urinated on “The Alamo” in the U.S. state of Texas.
“The Alamo”, it seems, is a state treasure and for that the Governor Of Texas (who was future U.S. President George W. Bush) banned Ozzy from stepping foot on Texas soil for ten years!

Ironically, during Bush’s presidency Ozzy was invited to a White House dinner and President Bush gave a glowing speech to Ozzy in which he said, among other things,  that his mother (Barbara Bush) listens to Ozzy‘s music.
Somehow I can’t imagine Mrs. Bush enjoying Ozzy Osbourne‘s music!

Anyways, Ozzy Osbourne, “The Godfather Of Metal”, will be releasing a new album next year.

And next month, his autobiography, titled “I Am Ozzy” will be in bookstores.

The cover of Ozzy Osbourne's autobiograhy

I want to read it!

And due in theaters in 2010 is a documentary about Ozzy‘s life (produced by his son, Jack Osbourne), titled “Wreckage Of My Past (The Story Of Ozzy Osbourne)“.