The final season begin early in 2010…

Lost features an orchestral score performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra and composed by Michael Giacchino, incorporating many recurring themes for subjects such as events, locations and characters, something uncommon in television music . Giacchino achieved some of the sounds for the score using unusual instruments, such as striking suspended pieces of the plane’s fuselage.

         On March 21, 2006, the record label Varèse Sarabande released the original television soundtrack for Lost’s first season. The soundtrack included select full-length versions of the most popular themes of the season and the main title, which was composed by series creator J.J. Abrams. Varèse Sarabande released a soundtrack featuring music from the second season of Lost on October 3, 2006.

        A soundtrack for the third season was released on May 6, 2008, with the fourth season soundtrack released on May 11, 2009.

   Pop culture songs have been used sparingly in the series, given the mainly orchestral score. When such songs are featured, they usually originate from a diegetic source. Examples are the various songs played on Hurley’s portable CD player throughout the first season (until its batteries died in the episode “…In Translation”), which featured Damien Rice’s “Delicate”, or the use of the record player in the second season, which included Cass Elliot’s “Make Your Own Kind of Music” and Petula Clark’s “Downtown” in the second and third season premieres respectively.

    In two episodes, Charlie is shown on a street corner playing guitar and singing the Oasis song “Wonderwall”. In the third season’s finale, Jack is driving down the street listening to Nirvana’s “Scentless Apprentice,” right before he arrives to the Hoffs/Drawlar Funeral Parlor, and in the parallel scene in the fourth season’s finale he arrives listening to “Gouge Away” by Pixies. The third season also used Three Dog Night’s Shambala on two occasions in the van.

       The only two pop songs that have ever been used without a source (i.e. non-diegetic) are Ann-Margret’s “Slowly,” in the episode “I Do” and “I Shall Not Walk Alone”, written by Ben Harper, and covered by The Blind Boys of Alabama in the episode “Confidence Man”. Alternate music is used in several international broadcasts. For instance, in the Japanese broadcast of Lost, the theme song used varies by season; season one uses “Here I Am” by Chemistry, season two uses “Losin’” by Yuna Ito, and season three uses “Lonely Girl” by Crystal Kay.

More photos that I’ve taken lately:

There’s an orchid breeding place at the bottom of Botanic Gardens that has all these scientific doodads rigged to help the little guys procreate. The whole thing made me think of  the Dharma Initiative’s Orchid Station I LOVE IT.

It was a Sunday and warm.

I saw this across the road from Lasalle. Thought it was flower at first, but upon closer inspection realized that it was crumpled up pink garbage shoved into the fence. Kind of depressing but also really beautiful.

I as a giant banana for Halloween.  This gorilla showed up!

Here are some of the other pics from the Halloween party!
CLUE!

Banana and David Bowie.

Lady Gaga… twice….

Billy Mays and Conan O’Brien
 
Tupac and Little Red Riding Hood
(that ink is some of my work.)

Dharma Initiative

Robin, Banana, Bowie, and Dharma

Ketchup


Jack The Ripper and Prostitute…

Dr. Horrible

Bill Clinton and Monica
 

I just put a few… you would have to check out facebook to see the rest.

Flashbacks:

 
- After performing surgery, Jack encounters Jacob at the hospital vending machine. Their fingers touch as Jacob hands him a candy bar.

- Young Juliet and her sister Rachel listen to their parents explain they are getting divorced. Their mother explains that just because two people love each other, it doesn’t mean they’re meant to be together.

Dharma Initiative Time:

- Sawyer tries to talk Jack out of nuking the island. Jack says he’s doing it for Kate. Sawyer punches Jack and they begin fighting.

- Juliet stops the fight and tells Sawyer that Jack is right. She changed her mind because she saw how Sawyer looked at Kate. Sawyer and Juliet aren’t supposed to be together.

- Phil warns Radzinsky at the construction site that Sayid has returned.

- Phil arrives at the construction site and sees Jack. A firefight breaks out.

- The drill gets pulled into the pit and Jack throws the plutonium core into the hole.

- Everything metal gets sucked toward the hole. Juliet, tangled in chains, is pulled into the pit.

- Juliet is critically injured at the bottom of the hole. She sees Jughead and proceeds to hit it with a rock until the cavern flashes white with an explosion.

Thirty years later…

- Hurley is released from prison and Jacob shares a cab with him. Hurley asks if he’s dead, and Jacob explains that maybe Hurley is blessed that he is visited by the people he’s lost. Jacob touches Hurley’s knee and then gives him Ajira Flight 316 info.

After the Ajira crash:

- Richard, Locke and Ben reach the four-toed statue. Richard says it’s where Jacob lives and opens a hidden entryway. Locke and Ben go inside.

- Ilana’s party finds Richard at the beach. She asks him what lies in the shadow of the statue and he gives the correct answer in Latin.

- Ilana opens the aluminum crate to reveal a coffin containing Locke.

- Ben and Locke find Jacob, who tells Locke he found his loophole. Ben asks if Locke and Jacob have met before, and Locke responds that they have in a manner of speaking

- Ben, enraged that his devoted work has been ignored by Jacob yet Locke gets the attention, raises his knife and stabs Jacob in the heart. Locke then shoves Jacob into the fire.

Genau heute vor fünf Jahren:

Beste Serie ever.

ABC has let loose another viral marketing campaign for LOST. This one involves videos from a supposed television series titled “Mysteries of the Universe” which “aired” on ABC in the 80s. Nothing much is gained from these videos as far as new information goes, but us Losties need all the fixes we can get. The above video is the first part of three, and is mostly an introduction. You can check the others out on hulu, which is much easier to deal with than the ABC site. It looks like more parts are on the way, so stay tuned.

- Christian BC

How Important Is Branding? Just Ask Disney

New York — Advertisers may know roughly how many people watch a given TV program. But how does television make viewers feel?

That’s one of the big questions Walt Disney Co. wanted to answer with its advertising-research facility in Austin, Texas, which the company touted in a presentation here Tuesday to several dozen advertising executives.

Traditional TV measurement techniques are able to gauge what viewers “see and say” but don’t measure “what they feel and think,” said Peter Seymour, executive vice president of Disney Media Networks strategy and research. The Media Networks segment encompasses the Disney/ABC Television Group, ESPN, Disney Channel, ABC Family and other properties.

The Disney Media & Advertising Lab, announced last May, began conducting its first research projects in December 2008. To date it has fielded 16 studies and has 25 more in various stages.

The lab’s goal is to decipher physical and emotional responses to television and other forms of video using proven scientific methods, said executive director Duane Varan, who is also director of the Interactive Television Research Institute at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia.

“Television is an intrinsically emotional experience,” he said. “Fundamentally, we often can’t articulate what is driving our behavior.”

The Disney Media & Advertising Lab currently measures three primary types of physiological feedback: heart rate; skin conductivity (a measure of emotional response); and eye movement, to track where viewers are looking at the screen. The lab uses a goggle-based eye tracking system as well as a stereoscopic camera system that constructs a 3-D model of the viewer’s head to track eye movements.

Disney chose Austin because it provides a good cross-section of the population. The company has assembled a pool of 3,000 people in the area who are statistically matched with the needs of each research project. Sample sizes for the tests range from 64 to 300 participants, Varan said.

The lab operates from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week, which means it can test 180 subjects per day and 65,000 in a year, according to Varan. The facility is identified as “The Media Panel” so as not to bias survey participants.

The lab’s staff of 17 wears black lab coats. Noted Varan: “If someone is going to attach electrodes to your head, you want confidence that they know what they’re doing.”

So, what has Disney learned so far from the experiments? Mainly that some ad formats and approaches work better than others.

Seymour said one study demonstrated a notable lift in ad recall from product placement in ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Two different groups were shown the same episode, including the same ad breaks with three 30-second Sears ads, except only one group saw the version with a 15-second segment of the show featuring Sears branding. Those who saw the in-program brand placement had a 27% increase in unaided recall and a 31% increase in purchase intent compared with the group that didn’t see it.

Artie Bulgrin, ESPN’s senior vice president of research and sales development, said a study looking at the effect of the network’s Bottom Line ticker on ad performance showed there was no difference in ad recall between subjects who saw the Bottom Line during an ad break and those who didn’t. Viewers spent only 12.6% of the time during the ad break looking at the ticker, the lab’s testing found.

“Bottom Line presents no threat, and for ads that might fail to engage viewers, the Bottom Line provides a reason to stay on the screen,” Bulgrin said.

What didn’t work as well as Disney expected: Seymour said a study looking at ABC promotions on the lower third of the screen were only effective if they were preceded by a video promo. “For us, it was a little bit of a disappointing result,” he said.

Mike Shaw, ABC’s president of sales and marketing, added, “There may be times when the ‘A spot’ is not the spot you want — perhaps you’ve just come out of a drama and the human mind is not receptive to it.”

As for how advertisers will be able to engage with the lab, Ed Erhardt, president of ESPN/ABC Sports customer sales and marketing, said the media company will evaluate requests on a case-by-case basis “with regard to our overall relationship.”

One of the emerging technologies the Disney ad lab is looking at using, but has yet to validate, is facial coding. That measures the configuration of muscles on the human face to determine emotional engagement. However, according to Varan, no facial-coding software currently available is accurate enough. “Until it’s validated it’s magic, not science,” he said.

Disney bookended the presentation with video clips featuring Dr. Marvin Candle, the scientist in the Dharma Initiative orientation films from ABC’s Lost.

Candle, played by actor François Chau, deadpanned that the ad lab was conceived in 1927 by Walt Disney, “and it was to have been built on the moon.”

By Todd Spangler — Multichannel News

Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof are looking to recruit another new player to the cast of Lost for the upcoming final season. (Minor character spoilers and speculation…)

The description of the character is thus.

Lennon: Scruffy, edgy, charismatic, and slightly stir-crazy, Lennon can be deferential when it’s called for. He’s the spokesperson/translator for the president of a foreign corporation. He’s a wily negotiator, and far more powerful than his lowly position would seem to indicate. Recurring.

Sounds like it could be an interesting character for one big reason. Does the mention of “foreign corporation” put anyone in mind of the Hanso Foundation, the company that funded the Dharma Initiative’s research on the island? Hanso is the one big faction that hasn’t been shown in the foreground of the action yet, even though the name has been bouncing around the Lost fandom since S2 introduced us to the Dharma Initative via the Swan Orientation video. Charles Widmore said last season that a “war” is coming, and it’s been clear for a while that a lot of people have a major interest in the island.

If S6 sees the Hanso Foundation step up in the action, I’d be very happy.

EDIT: Well, we didn’t have to wait long! The role has gone to John Hawkes, who’s probably best known as Sol from Deadwood, but who I recognised from the Miranda July movie Me and You and Everyone We Know. He’s certainly get the scruffy, edgy feel that the casting call described, and I can see him being a very good fit on the show. Once again, the Lost team prove that they’re great at casting.

Walt Disney

Neuromarketing y Disney no son palabras que uno espera encontrar juntas, sin embargo lo están en el nuevo complejo de investigación de la Walt Disney Company para su división Disney Media Networks (que incluye ESPN, Disney-ABC Televisión Group, Disney Channel, ABC Television Network, ABC Family, ABC Studios, Disney ABC Domestic Television, Radio Disney y Disney XD).

Disney Media Networks ha llevado a cabo, como otras empresas de televisión, investigación intensiva al consumidor relacionada con su programación, pero como en la actualidad al consumidor de TV lo provocan tanto la red como los DVR (o  video grabadoras digitales) y eso ha hecho decaer el negocio, están agregando a sus actividades la investigación de la publicidad que es un campo nuevo y muy solicitado por las marcas. Sobre esto y además con revelaciones sobre hallazgos de esta división hizo la empresa una presentación ante unos 200 anunciadores y ejecutivos de medios, en Nueva York, el 28 de Julio.

Lo que busca Disney Media Networks, más allá de cuantas veces pulsan los visitantes el botón de un aviso publicitario en las páginas que visitan, o qué tipo de publicidad atrae mas entradas, que son cosas sencillas de establecer en Internet, pretende esclarecer qué sucede con los millones que simplemente pasan sus ojos por la página. Creen —y están en lo cierto— que no se sabe casi nada de ellos ni en especial qué tipo de avisos publicitarios en qué configuración son los que tienen mejores oportunidades de atraerlos y mantenerlos en la página. También quieren descifrar las respuestas físicas y emocionales a la TV y otras formas de video utilizando métodos científicos porque como dice su Director Ejecutivo Duane Varan (que es también director del Interactive Television Research Institute de la Universidad Murdoch en Perth, Australia): “La televisión es una experiencia intrínsecamente emocional y sucede que fundamentalmente no podemos expresar qué es lo que impulsa nuestro comportamiento.”

Un computador sigue los movimientos faciales y de los ojos de un participante en un estudio en el Laboratorio de Disney en Austin Texas (Fuente: NYT)

Lo que está en juego, según el New York Times, es la suma cada vez mas grande de dinero que se invierte en publicidad en la red. De acuerdo con las cifras de eMarketer, una empresa dedicada a la investigación de mercado, estadísticas y análisis objetivo en Internet, los $25 billones de dólares se convertirán en $37 billones en el 2013.

La idea de Disney Media Networks es atraer clientes ofreciéndoles investigación seria sobre lo que funciona y lo que no funciona en los nuevos medios, dice Peter Seymour Vicepresidente Ejecutivo a cargo de Estrategia e Investigación en el Disney Media & Advertising Lab. Y también concentrarse en nuevas formas de publicidad en programas de la televisión actual contestándose preguntas tales como ¿los avisos que pasan antes de los clips de video (llamados prerolls) son más eficaces cuando van acompañados de un banner? ¿los avisos animados mantienen la atención de los espectadores mejor que los avisos con acción en vivo en aparatos portátiles? ¿Cuan bien funciona un logo o texto colocado en parte de la página web como biselado en un espejo y llamado watermark add o marca de agua (1)?, ¿influye en la intención de compra?. Y aún yendo más allá en el campo de la televisión, las técnicas de medición de TV conocidas, pueden calibrar lo que el televidente ve y cuenta pero no pueden medir lo que siente y piensa y esta es una de las incógnitas por despejar que tiene Seymour y el equipo de científicos a cargo de los proyectos que se iniciaron en diciembre del año pasado. Dieciséis de los proyectos está terminados y otros veinticinco están en diverso nivel de desarrollo y relacionados con la medición de si, por ejemplo, la colocación de un comercial dentro de un grupo si altera la eficacia, o de cómo son percibidos los avisos en las distintas plataformas de noticias de abc, o el impacto de pantallas partidas con avisos en una mitad y contenido (o programa en curso) en la otra, así como diversos tests para las promociones de la cadena, y de qué manera el uso simultáneo de la computadora y la TV influye en la atención/concentración del espectador.

Una participante en un estudio en el Disney Media & Advertising Lab. (Fuente: NYT)

El Laboratorio, que está instalado en Austin, mide tres tipos primarios de retroalimentación biológica: frecuencia cardiaca, conductividad de la piel (que es una medida de respuesta emocional) y movimiento de ojos para mantener un registro de qué lugar de la pantalla están, utilizando un sistema basado en su movimiento y también un sistema de cámara estereoscópica que construye modelos en 3-D de la cabeza del espectador, a fin de seguir dichos movimientos. Pero la idea es, según Duane Varan, no confiar en ninguna de las mediciones sino triangular todo tipo de información. La que pueda incluir data de los sistemas de registros de información conectados al televisor o set-top boxes (como los people meter que miden ratings o los decodificadores), los ratings de Nielsen, otros datos de estudios cooperativos o syndicated data, y hasta incluso técnicas más novedosas aún por ser comprobadas y confirmadas como la codificación facial, que mide la respuesta de los músculos de la cara al estímulo para determinar que hay participación emocional. Pero ningún software para medir los parámetros de la codificación facial es suficientemente preciso, aún y “mientras no sea convalidado, dice Varan, no lo consideramos ciencia sino magia”. Todo, con el objetivo final de descubrir “las nuevas leyes de la verdad” sobre el impacto de la publicidad en sus distintas alternativas, en las personas.

Algunas constataciones.

- Un estudio probó que hay un notable aumento de recordación publicitaria cuando se hizo un product placement en el programa de ABC Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (que es un reality show, ganador de un Emmy, donde un equipo de diseñadores reconstruyen la casa de gente necesitada en 7 dias, y se emite en castellano bajo el nombre Extreme makeover: Reconstrucción total, en la cadena de cable People & Arts).

Se le proyectó el mismo episodio a dos grupos incluyendo los mismos cortes con tres avisos de Sears de 30 segundos pero uno de los dos grupos vio la versión con un segmento de 15 segundos que incluía branding de Sears. Este último grupo registró 27% más de recordación no ayudada y 31% de incremento en intención de compra que el grupo que no vio esos 15 segundos de product placement.

- Otro estudio descubrió que la línea en la base de la pantalla con un mensaje fijo o con una noticia que avanza de izquierda a derecha no perjudica al comercial en sí —se mantiene la recordación de la marca— porque las personas solo pasan 12.6% del tiempo del mensaje mirando la línea, mientras que realmente ayuda a retener la atención de los espectadores fija en la pantalla (y por lo tanto en el comercial) en aquellos casos de comerciales que podrían no interesar a los espectadores.

- Una cosa que no funcionó fue el uso del tercio inferior de la pantalla para las promociones de abc. El estudio demostró que solo eran eficaces si les precedía un video de las mismas. Esta fue, por cierto, una constatación decepcionante para los ejecutivos del laboratorio. De la misma manera, se probó que las transparencias con publicidad que se superponen sobre el contenido, molestan a los espectadores.

Siguiendo la información en un monitor (Fuente: NYT)

La localización del Laboratorio en Austin, Texas, no es casual. Responde a que la ciudad provee un buen corte transversal de la población de los EE UU. Además, han agrupado un conjunto de 3,000 personas en el área que están estratificados estadísticamente con las necesidades de cada proyecto. El tamaño de las muestras varía de entre 64 y 300 participantes. El laboratorio en un horario de 12 horas, siete días por semana, puede hacer pruebas con 180 individuos diarios o 65,000 al año. El edificio tiene un letrero que dice “Media Panel”, que  pretende evitar que los participantes tomen ningún tipo de sesgo respecto a lo que van a hacer allí, y los estudios se hacen en 8 ambientes de investigación decorados como salas o bien como oficinas con pisos de madera, iluminación suave y mobiliario confortable, construidas alrededor de un puesto central de comando, donde los investigadores escudriñan a los participantes a través de monitores de video -20 cámaras por ambiente— y de cristales de espejo (un lado transparente y el otro espejo). Hay también un pequeño teatro que permite que una docena de personas participe en un experimento simultáneo. El staff del laboratorio usa batas negras  “porque si alguien te va a poner electrodos en la cabeza quieres tener confianza en que sabe lo que está haciendo” dice Varan.

Para cerrar la presentación a los anunciantes y agencias, aparecieron video clips con el Dr. Marvin Candle, el científico asiático que aparece en los videos y películas de orientación de la Dharma Initiative que los seguidores de Lost, reconocerán en el video que sigue, quien, con cara impasible, dijo que “el Laboratorio fue concebido en 1927 por el propio Walt Disney para ser construido en la luna”.

Iniciativa Dharma

Para terminar me parece interesante consignar las declaraciones de Tracey Scheppach, Director de Innovaciones en Video del Grupo Starcom MediaVest, que describe el trabajo del Disney Media & Advertising Lab. como “totalmente incalculable” porque “… todo el mundo está tratando de concebir los modelos de publicidad del futuro, pero nadie lo está haciendo en esta escala”. Se refiere a las empresas que mencionamos en nuestro último post y sin duda también a otras cadenas como la CBS que abrió su propio laboratorio —Televisión City— en Las Vegas con el propósito de testear los programas piloto de las series y que recientemente ha ingresado a experimentar con los nuevos medios a través de una asociación con Neurofocus, monitoreando la actividad cerebral, en individuos que están viendo televisión y avisos publicitarios. Unas 70,000 personas participaron en algún test de la CBS en el 2008.

————————————

(1) …que en papel se utiliza para evitar la falsificación de documentos, para mostrar la autenticidad del origen de algún papel o impreso, como adorno o como diferenciación entre diferentes fábricas de papel)

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Screen capture från: säsong 3 avsnitt 08 - Flashes before your eyes

Tillhör: Dharma initiative
Yrke: Bor och arbetar i “the hatch” utan att egentligen veta om varför.
Relationer: Tillsammans med Penny
Medverkar i: 72 avsnitt

Extra mycket Desmond i:
Säsong 2
23 & 24: Live Together Die Alone
Säsong 3
08: Flashes Before Your Eyes
17: Catch 22
Säsong 4
05: The Constant

Spelas av: Henry Ian Cusick

Like a little truth sprinkled in with your fiction?

Part 1 of 5 of a 1980’s exposé of the of the clandestine group The DHARMA Initative.

Having read my fair share of conspiracy research you can imagine my eyes opened wide upon viewing this latest viral clip from the producers of Lost. It’s not a sign of paranoia when you think the TV is giving you secret messages is it?

On an amusing sidenote check out DamonCarltonandaPolarBear.com ‘Nuff said.

I don’t normally get excited about the “collector’s edition” sets that usually throw in a stupid doll or die cast model with your favorite movie or tv series. However, this just-announced version of Lost Season 5 on Blu-ray looks pretty amazing to a geek like me. The theme is that the set is actually a Dharma Initiation Kit, so I’d like to think there will be some sweet bonus videos like some of the uncut orientation films we haven’t seen before. Either that, or this is some kind of conspiracy between Disney/ABC and the last remaining VCR manufacturers. Lost: The Complete Fifth Season Dharma Initiation Kit will be released on December 8, 2009, on the same date as the standard Blu-ray and DVD versions.

It’s not my insomnia actually, it’s my wife’s discomfort that’s got me outta bed.  So, I thought I’d run over here and post a little something, just in case anyone actually reads this thing.

I just realized that I am missing the show ‘Lost’.  Jack, Kate, Sawyer … and the rest.  I am also realizing that the creators of the show might have been traumatized by ‘Gilligan’s Island’ much like I was as a kid.  I think it’s the same blasted island, that’s what we are going to find out in the final season.

They were off the island, then back on the island with each reunion show, foreshadowing?  There were love triangles, but between Gilligan, Ginger and Mary Ann.  Not this 2 guy, 1 girl junk that we have now, which is so unrealistic.  Besides, I thought Ginger was so much better looking as a kid and then she was judged by the smog monster, (which was never really shown on the actual series) as we saw in later visits with the castaways.  She’d looked like she’d been struck repeatedly  by the fist of time, while Mary Ann kept her youthful appearance, much like Richard Alpert…

There was Skipper’s respectful fear of ‘taboo’, and try to tell me that there is no link between the Professor and the Dharma Initiative, honestly.  He obviously got the Howell’s to finance his plans for scientific experimentation without government sanctions safely on his desert island paradise.  Making all of those things out of coconuts  was just symbolism for the experiments to come in this later series. Perhaps Thurston Howell IS Alvar Hanso, the reclusive business magnate behind Dharma Initiative… hmmm?  Namaste.

Anyway Lost creators, we have figured it out.  Gilligan’s Island and your nameless island are one in the same.  So bring out Bob Denver and Dawn Wells in the final episode, and we will not bat an eye.  We figured it out.  All of it.  Except for all of the weird scripting involving Walt from Season One.  Talk about bogus plotlines, yikes.

I guess I should post some art now that I put my wife to sleep with this rant. Which is total satire and not meant to mean anything to anyone, so don’t hate y’all.  :-)

the cat that hides in the foot of the statue...

I was obsessed with Egypt as a kid. So much so, that I taught myself Coptic Egyptian, and poured over tons of books by EA Wallace Budge.  I later used my knowledge of hieroglyphics to be a big hit at parties, or for designing tattoos, but that’s another set of stories altogether.

I love cats too, so did the Egyptians.  I will not mummify any one of my cats just so you know, but I have the know-how, which is sad.

This doodle is a few years old and it mixes my love for cats and ancient Egypt, its just for fun, and please do not try to figure out any of the hieroglyphics, which are 99% doodle.  the only exception being the sun disc toward the bottom of the drawing.

Originally in prismacolor pencils, without photoshop tweakage.  Good day, and hopefully I won’t be too tired at work later this morning.

Namaste.

By Katelyn

Lately I have been realizing how much daddy issues play into the story line of Lost.  Usually once a story line has been used you will never see it again but that is not the case with these daddy issues.  These reoccurring plots are making me think that maybe they are of some importance.

Here are some of the daddy issues I’ve picked up on (in no particular order).

Kate Austen – Kate finds herself on Oceanic Flight 815 after being caught on the run in Australia for killing her step-father.  Some time after killing her step-father she finds out that he was her actual biological father.

Kate blows up her father's house while he's inside.

Daniel Faraday – We found out late in season 5 that Daniel Faraday’s biological father is Charles Widmore, who is also the father of Penelope Widmore.  While studying at Oxford, Daniel only knew of Widmore because of the research grants he received from him and of the offer he received to do research on this island.  His mother is Eloise Hawking, who accidently shoots and kills Daniel in 1977 (her past and his future).  I find it weird that Daniel shares neither of their last names, even though he was raised by his mother, and neither of their accents.

"He was my son too, Eloise."

James “Sawyer” Ford – James became a confidence man after being orphaned as a child when his father killed his mother, who had been conned for all their money, then himself.  His mother had been conned by a man named Sawyer, which James adopts as his own name.

a young Sawyer hids under the bed while his father turns his gun on himself

Penelope Widmore – Penny is the daughter of Charles Widmore, one of the most dreaded character in the series.  It became known that her father did not want her in a relationship with her one true love, Desmond Hume.  After Mr. Widmore denied Desmond’s wish to marry Penny so he entered into Widmore’s sail boat race to prove himself worthy.  Desmond then becomes shipwrecked and stuck on the island (which could be seen as Charles Widmore’s doing).  Penny never gives up searching for him despite her father’s hatred of Desmond.

awwww true love! I'm jealous...

Jin-Soo Kwon – Jin’s daddy issues are simple… he is embarrassed of his past.  Born to a prostitute who abandoned him as an infant and a fisherman, Jin dreamed of a way out of his social class.  When he fell in love with Sun, a rich heiress, he disowned his father and claimed he was dead.

Jin visiting his father with news of his new bride

Sun-Hwa Kwon – I think the second scariest man to Charles Widmore is Sun’s father, known just as Mr. Paik.  He is a hotel owner and the owner of a automobile manufactuer… oh yeah, and the Korean mob boss.  Mr. Paik gives Jin a job and allows him to marry his daughter even though Jin is not up to their social standards.  As repayment, Jin becomes Mr. Paik’s personal assistant and does his dirty work.  It is because of this dirty work that Sun and Jin are on Oceanic Flight 815 on that fateful day.  So when Jin doesn’t make it off the island Sun blames her father and therefor buys a majority share of her father’s company with her Oceanic settlement.

Sun breaking the news to her father that he now works for her

Benjamin Linus – I think the more we learn about Ben the more we start to feel sorry for the fellow.  Ben was born off the island but after his mother died during childbirth his father, Roger Linus, takes a job in the Dharma Initiative.  Once on the island his father starts drinking heavily and verbally abusing poor young Ben who then develops a hatred for the Initiative,  later joins the “Hostiles” and becomes the man we all love to hate.

young Benjamin and his father being welcomed to the island by Horace

Alex Rousseau/Linus – Alex was born on the island after her mother Danielle Rousseau became shipwrecked during a scientific excursion–16 years before the Oceanic Flight 815 crash.  After all of her fellow scientists died, Charles Widmore ordered Benjamin Linus and Ethan Rom to kill Danielle and her baby daughter.  Instead, Ben neglected Widmore’s orders and kidnapped Alex and raised her as his own.  Sixteen years later when some mercenaries sent by Widmore come to take Ben off the island, they take Alex hostage and threaten to kill her if Ben will not surrender himself.  Of course, he refuses and she dies knowing her adopted father didn’t try to save her.

Alex moments before being killed because he "father" refused to save her

Claire Littleton – The only memory Claire had of her father was a lullaby he would sing to her as a child.  Her mother had always told her he had died when she was young.  But indecently her father is Christian Shephard, who she met shortly after her mother was hospitalized and in a coma.  Christian is also Jack Shephard’s father who died just days before the plane crash but came back to life on the island.  Oh, and did I mention she went awol and abandoned her newborn baby, Aaron, to hang out with Christian in some creepy cabin in the jungle?

a younger Claire and her real father

Jack Shephard – Jack has the most obvious daddy issues.  His father, Christian Shephard, was a top surgeon and expected nothing less of Jack but to be the same.  Even though he was the chief of surgery, Christian was an alcoholic.  Jack turned him in for operating under the influence, which is when Christian flew to Australia (to visit his “other family” including Claire Littleton) and soon died.  Jack was bringing his alcoholic father’s body home when Flight 815 crashed on the island.  Soon after the crash, Jack started seeing Christian roaming around on the shore and in the jungle.  And once he was home he began seeing Christian again–like sitting in his hospitals waiting room.  This (plus his incredibly sad breakup with Kate) lead to Jack becoming drug addicted, alcoholic who attempts suicide.  Like father like son?

Jack and Christian were always in disagreement

Hugo “Hurley” Reyes – As a child, Hurley was abandoned by his father for no apparent reason while they were restoring an old Camaro.  Hurley’s belief that his father’s act of leaving was his fault caused him great sadness and self-doubt which in turn caused him to gain a great deal of weight.  But surprise, surprise… his father returned home after hearing about Hurley’s $114m lottery win.

gold digger

and lastly…

Walt Lloyd – Walt is Michael Dawson’s son who was taken away by his mother, Susan, when Walt was a baby.  First they move to Amsterdam, where Susan marries some guy, and then Rome, and finally to Australia where the new happy family decided to permanently call home.  After a long custody battle, Susan’s husband, Brian Porter, became Walt’s legal guardian.  To say the least, Walt gave Brian the creeps.  So after Susan died when Walt was 10 years old, Brian begged for Michael to take Walt back.  On the island, Michael and Walt had their ups and downs (I think he loved his dog, Vincent, more than his father) but ultimately Michael saved Walt and got them both off the island.  Walt now lives in New York City–without his father.  Michael became suicidal once leaving the island but after realizing it is impossible for him to kill himself (due to island magic) he agrees to go back to the island because it is the only way he can die and thus he leaves Walt once again.

a rare sight of happiness between the two

I’m sure there are probably more daddy issues among the rest of the characters.  I guess we’ll have to wait for the sixth and final season of Lost to see what the flashbacks have in store.