Jul 21 2011

Hugh Jackman at Comic Con Video

X-Men Origins: Wolverine DVD

Hugh Jackman showed up at Comic Con to talk about “Real Steel” and “Wolverine 2″. Here’s the video. Read more »


Jun 17 2011

Christine Coppa interviews Adrian Grenier [Daddy Issues]

Adrian Grenier Shot in the Dark DVD

Friend of DaddyTips Christine Coppa interviewed Adrian Grenier for Parenting.com. Why are we telling you this? Several reasons. Read more »


Apr 15 2011

Aisha Gadhafi Defends Her Dad [Daddy Issues]

Moammar Gadhafi, father of Aisha Gadhafi

AOL News is reporting that Aisha Gadhafi, daughter of Moammar Gadhafi, is defending her father.

And you thought your dad was difficult.

How’s this for an opening paragraph? It’s riddled with Daddy Issues. Read more »


Feb 01 2011

Elton John’s Father Never Heard Him Play [Elton John’s Daddy Issues]

Elton John's father never heard him play piano

Imagine your son was a great musician. You’d be proud of him, right? Now imagine that your son was not only a great musician, but an insanely successful one. Like, oh, I don’t know, Elton John. Odds are you’d show up to hear him play, right?

Not if you were Elton John’s father. According to a story posted on TimesLive.co.za, Sir Elton’s father never heard him play piano.

This little tidbit comes at the end of a story about how “flamboyant musician” (their words) Elton John and his husband David Furnish are dressing their adopted son in hand-me-down clothes from friends (“All you need is a couple of Babygros and a lot of muslin,” says David; I’ve raised two kids and have no idea what that means). According to TimesLive, Elton John told the Sunday Times magazine that “my father never came to hear me play. Not ever. He was a tough and emotional man. … He was dismissive, disappointed and finally absent. I just wanted him to acknowledge what I’d done.”

If that’s not enough, Elton adds that he doesn’t think his father “didn’t know how to relate to kids. He left us, remarried and had another family, and by all accounts was a great dad to them. It wasn’t children, it was me.”

Read that last sentence again. OK, I’ll do it for you.

“It wasn’t children, it was me.”

Again, these quotes are from an outside source. I didn’t speak to Sir Elton personally. If I had, I’m not sure I would have been able to restrain myself from saying, “Dude! It wasn’t you! He was a prick!” Or maybe crying. Hell, I’m getting a little teary-eyed now.

Granted, things have worked out pretty well for Sir Elton. He’s worth at least a couple of hundred million dollars, has sold a bajillion albums (that’s a rough estimate) and by all accounts lives about as nice a life as one could hope to live. But if the quote, “It wasn’t children, it was me,” is accurate, that’s sad. I’ve still got a pile of issues that I’m dealing with relating to the fact that my father died when I was 10 (details to come if I decide I can share them publicly; it’s fairly depressing stuff). Elton is older than I, and also a bajillion times more successful in his chosen career (again, rough estimate on the exact multiple). I guess it’s fair to say that when it comes to kids dealing with daddy issues, I think it’s gonna be a long long time.

Elton John’s son wears ‘hand-me-downs’ – Times LIVE.

Image via Amazon


Jan 05 2011

Cam Newton’s Father coming to BCS championship game

Presumed first-round NFL draft pick Cam Newton has some daddy issues. But that doesn’t mean pops is going to miss the big game.

According to the AP, Cam’s dad Cecil Newton will be attending the BCS Championship Game on Monday January 10, despite the fact that he “was involved in a pay-for-play attempt during his son’s recruitment by Mississippi State that resulted in limited access to Auburn’s athletics program.” But Cam Newton told reporters that his dad and other family members “are going to be loud and proud” at the big game. Here is a more specific exchange from the Orlando Sentinel:

Q. Is your dad coming?
A: Yes, he’s coming.

So there.

It probably doesn’t matter, but I wonder if maybe dad should sit this one out. Assuming the allegations are true (and from what I can tell they are), that means Cecil Newton asked for a lot of money in exchange for telling his son to play at Auburn. That’s not good. By going to the game, he becomes a target for reporters.

Then again, if he didn’t go, that would allow the billions of BCS blowhards to bloviate about that. So maybe he should go ahead and enjoy the game.

I’m not likely to ever be the father of a star athlete (sorry kids, just a feeling — but feel free to prove me wrong!) so I don’t know what it feels like to watch your child play in a big game like this one. I do know that I feel proud when one of my kids does anything cool, and if I did have a big time quarterback for a son, I know I would want to be there cheering him on.

Then again, I would never ask a school for a bribe in order to convince my son to play for a school, or do anything else for that matter. So there’s that.

Another question that came up when all of this stuff happened is whether or not Cam Newton knew what his dad was allegedly doing. It seems unlikely that he didn’t, but it’s not impossible. Fathers can be shitheads, and sons can be clueless. The NCAA didn’t punish Cam Newton, and if he’s a good QB, he’ll get drafted in the NFL and make a boatload of money. (Bleacher Report has a lengthy article about why Cam Newton wasn’t punished by the NCAA; I skimmed it but maybe you want to read the whole thing.) But if he didn’t know what his dad was doing, he might want to consider taking advice from someone else.

Outside links:

The Associated Press: Newton: Father coming to BCS game.

Newton: Like father, like son? – Arizona Daily Wildcat – Perspectives.

Cam Newton Scandal: How the NCAA’s Own Letter of the Law Clears the Auburn Tigers QB | Bleacher Report.


Jul 26 2010

New Tron Movie Has Daddy Issues [So Do I]

The new Tron movie has daddy issues.

So do I.

‘Tron: Legacy’ is the sequel to the 1982 film ‘Tron‘. I’d say ‘classic’ but if I’m being honest (and I always am, ahem) I don’t remember the original film well enough to call it a classic. I’m not sure if anyone else would agree. More on that later.

A new trailer was revealed at the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC). Here it is:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s8goEO7ma4]

The movie looks like a lot of fun. What caught me by surprise were the daddy issues on display.

Jeff Bridges’ character Kevin Flynn appears to have had a son named Sam (played by Garrett Hedlund) at some point between 1982 and now. (It’s possible he had one in the original film; like I said, I don’t remember.) From the trailer, it looks as if poppa Flynn disappeared when Sam was a little guy, and no one knows what happened. Cue the title card — “20 years later”. Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner, also returning from the original film, although he isn’t playing the Tron character this time) gets a page from dad’s office number, which has been disconnected for 20 years. (When was the last time he used that pager? Was it in storage all this time?) Sam Flynn enters Flynn’s Arcade, which is all wrapped up in saran. He is absorbed into the Tron world, or whatever it was called. Nerds everywhere pop geeky boners. He rides a lightcycle and throws those cool-looking disc things. Boners get bigger. Hot girl in tight cyber suit (Olivia Wilde). Boners get more valid.

During all of this, the bad guy, Clu 2.0 reveals his face. It’s the same face as Sam’s dad, Kevin. No beard, though.

Daddy Kevin is trapped somewhere, and Sam must find him. He also needs a shave. (If I were trapped in cyber world, I wouldn’t shave either.)

Not earth-shattering stuff I suppose. But big-time daddy issues.

“Hi Daddy!”

Oh, the daddy issues. Have we mentioned the daddy issues? Think about it. Kevin Flynn, Sam’s dad, disappeared when he was young. (8 years old? 9? Something like that.) Sam never found out why. (I’m guessing about this part.) After 20 years, his father’s former business partner tells him that Kevin paged him from a number that has been disconnected since dad fell off the face of the Earth. Sam goes to the arcade dad used to run, gets digitized, and discovers that the evil overlord of cyber world is someone who LOOKS JUST HIS FATHER. BUT! It’s not his father. His father is trapped somewhere and he must go and get him out.

My dad died when I was 10; this plotline could have been pulled directly from my brain. I’ve had several dreams over the years where I find out that my father has been alive all this time, living somewhere else. Usually I ask why he didn’t contact me. He has an answer but I can’t remember what it is. Even in the dream, I don’t think I really hear him. I vaguely recall a couple of dreams where he said something about not wanting to upset me, which of course makes sense since it is MUCH better to believe your father is dead than it is to find out he’s been alive but didn’t want to tell you. (OK, breathe… OK. OK.)

In ‘Tron: Legacy’, Sam finds out his dad is alive, trapped, and he can save him — from a bad guy that looks exactly like his dad. (Without facial hair, as noted.)

For me, this raises more issues than Life Magazine.

An older trailer (dated March 29, 2010) has a longer version of the “your dad paged me” scene. Sam says, “You think I’m going to find him… sorry kid, lost track of time?” “Wouldn’t that be something.”

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVJwwbTc98c]

Yeah. It would, wouldn’t it. Too bad it’s only a movie.

(BTW, the movie looks awesome, but I may have to check my emotions at the door when I see it with the kids. It would be way too hard to explain why dad is getting upset during a film in which the major attraction is CGI light cycles.)

Trailer via YouTube; originally seen on Topless Robot – It’s Jeff Bridges Vs. Jeff Bridges in Tron: Legacy.