Anyway, to celebrate the launch of the sixth and final season, the Wall Street Journal asked me to write a piece for their about the literary references, etc. I kind of went in a different direction, hoping for no clear resolution to all of the mysteries of Lost and pulling in one of my other non-translation based obsessions—The Crying of Lot 49.

The way “Lost” has set up opposing ideas and provided equal evidence for both arguments brings to mind “The Crying of Lot 49″ by Thomas Pynchon, a book that has yet to appear in the show but nevertheless might provide the perfect lens for understanding it and for predicting what the final scene of the finale might hold.

“The Crying of Lot 49,” published in 1966, is the story of Oedipa Maas, a young woman who becomes co-executor of an old lover’s estate. As she sorts through his life, she starts seeing a symbol — a drawing of a horn — everywhere (kind of like Lost’s numbers —4 8 15 16 23 42 — which appear time and again). Through a concerted investigation and pure chance, she figures out that this symbol is either a) part of a vast conspiracy for delivering messages among members of the underground or b) one big joke. As a corollary, Oedipa herself is either a) on the brink of comprehending something monumental or b) completely insane.

Sound familiar?

Yeah, I know I’m probably the only fan in the country who would be happier if the series ended with a lot of loose ends, but I have my reasons . . . Anyway, you can read the entire post

Bob Mayo and Mark Snesrud, solved the San Jose semaphore – a communication mode that uses moving flags or lights to send messages. That’s the public art mystery message being flashed in a series of four changing symbols from atop the Adobe tower on Almaden Boulevard.

The four glowing amber disks started beaming the code last August as part of the ZeroOne digital art festival. When it was launched, we were told it was some sort of code and that the pattern could be figured out. Tuesday, the answer was revealed: It’s the entire text – about 800 paragraphs – of Thomas Pynchon’s 1966 novel The Crying of Lot 49.

No word on whether either Bob or Mark have a post horn tattoo, or if either are involved in an underground mail company.