Cover Story: Vulture Capital
Fear and funding in Silicon Valley. Fiction by Mark Coggins.

Street Fight: A proposal to rebrand King Road after Martin Luther King Jr. has sparked a debate in east San Jose, where mistrust of City Hall runs high.

Public Eye: The battle between Varian and ex-employees Michelangelo Delfino and Mary Day continues; Susan Shick of Redev announces retirement; hating on Ghettopoly.

Biter: A baseball guide for the rest of us.

Techsploits: Lawyer Robin Gross fights for truth and IP (intellectual property) justice.

Hudson's Hawkers: Alfred Bierstadt and the Hudson River painters sold audiences not just pictures of America, but the idea of a new land.

Screen Goddess: Sharmila Tagore became a deity in Satyajit Ray's 'Devi,' part of a 30-film retrospective of the Indian master's films at the Stanford Theater in Palo Alto. In an interview with Richard von Busack, Tagore recalls working with Ray on several of his films.

The Moviegoers vs. 'Runaway Jury': Richard von Busack petitions for a verdict of 'Wait until video.'

'Ketchup': 'Kill Bill: Volume 1': Uma Thurman vs. the Deadly Viper Assassination Force.

Weenie Roast: 'Wonderland' decends into hard-core hell.

Harpies With Herpes: Richard Day's new Hollywood drag comedy 'Girls Will Be Girls' improves on 'Sex and the City.'

Separate But Equal: Two views on Outkast's new double CD, 'Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.'

Aural Fixation: Halloween comes early for Kiss and Marilyn Manson fans. Also: check out snapshots of Kiss, Manson and Aerosmith.

Metro's Club of the Week: Clandestine.

Silicon Startup: Symphony Silicon Valley stumbled a little before rising to rare beauty in season-opening program.

My Mercado: A sign in the window read 'Fresh Menudo,' and that was all it took to stop the car.

From Canada With Love: 'Mary's Wedding,' a WWI romance, has brought Canadian playwright Stephen Massicotte unexpected fame and fortune.

Fractured Foibles: TheatreWorks revisits Sondheim's 'A Little Night Music' with elegance and grace.

The Music Lives: Maria Elena Holly remembers her husband, rocker Buddy, at final performances of SJ Stage's musical 'Buddy.'