Inclusion Criteria:

- Patients must have histologically confirmed malignancy (solid tumor or lymphoma) that
is metastatic or unresectable and for which standard curative or palliative measures
are not expected to increase survival by at least 3 months

- Patients must have an advanced cancer relapsed or refractory to any platinum
compound; platinum-refractory disease is defined as disease that does not respond to
a platinum compound-containing regimen or that recurs after treatment with a platinum
compound-containing regimen

- Patients must have had >= 1 prior chemotherapy regimen; there is no maximum allowable
number of prior regimens, provided all other eligibility criteria are met

- Patients must be >= 6 weeks beyond treatment with a nitrosourea or mitomycin-C, >= 4
weeks beyond other chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and must have recovered to =< grade
1 toxicity for any treatment-limiting toxicity of prior therapy; (Exception: patients
may have received palliative low-dose radiotherapy to the limbs 1-4 weeks before this
therapy, provided pelvis, ribs, sternum, scapulae, vertebrae, or skull were not
included in the radiotherapy field)

- ECOG performance status =< 2 (Karnofsky >= 60%)

- Leukocytes >= 4,000/uL

- Absolute neutrophil count >= 1,500/uL

- Platelets >= 100,000/uL

- Total bilirubin =< 1.0 mg/dL

- AST(SGOT)/ALT(SGPT) =< 3 X institutional upper limit of normal

- Creatinine (serum) =< 2.0 mg/dL

- INR of less than or equal to 1.75 per institutional guideline

- Women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception
(hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) for the duration of study
participation; should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while
participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately

- Patients must have the ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written
informed consent document, including consent for the required tumor biopsy (in the
expansion phase), blood, and pharmacokinetics studies

- Tumor should be accessible for repeat biopsy if in the expansion phase; biopsies will
be performed in the expansion phase; the expansion cohort will be between 10 and 20
patients

- Patients must have expected survival of at least 3 months

Exclusion Criteria:

- Patients who have had chemotherapy or radiotherapy within 4 weeks (6 weeks for
nitrosoureas or mitomycin C) prior to entering the study or those who have not
recovered to =< grade 1 treatment-limiting toxicity levels for adverse events due to
agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier; (Exception: patients may have received
palliative low dose radiotherapy to the limbs 1-4 weeks before this therapy, provided
pelvis, ribs, sternum, scapulae, vertebrae, or skull were not included in the
radiotherapy field)

- Patients may not be receiving any other concurrent investigational agents

- Patients must not have a history of allergic reactions attributed to 5-azacytidine,
oxaliplatin, or compounds with a similar composition

- Patients must not have oxaliplatin intolerance

- Patients must not have uncontrolled intercurrent illness, including but not limited
to ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina
pectoris, potentially life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia, and psychiatric
illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements

- Pregnant women are excluded from this study because 5-azacytidine is an
antimetabolite with the potential for teratogenic or abortifacient effects; because
there is an unknown but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants
secondary to treatment of the mother with 5-azacytidine, breastfeeding should be
discontinued if the mother is treated with 5-azacytidine

- Because patients with immune deficiency are at increased risk of lethal infections
when treated with marrow-suppressive therapy, patients known to be HIV-positive and
receiving anti-retroviral therapy must have both a minimum of 350 CD4+ cells/mm^3 and
no history of AIDS defining conditions except for lymphoma

- Patients who have had surgery within 2 weeks prior to entering the study are not
eligible

- Patients who have been removed from prior platinum-containing therapy due to
platinum-compound cumulative toxicity