Literary Quarterly: The Duke and the Dandy
Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe helped create the New Journalism, but their new novels--The Rum Diary and A Man in Full--point in opposite directions.

Birds of America: Lorrie Moore's short fiction collection depresses and thrills millions.

Gain: Richard Powers charts the power of business in all corners of life and death.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: In Haruki Murakami's world, people must touch bottom before they can find salvation.

Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern: In which David Eggers takes the pretensions of the little literary magazine are taken for a ride.

News: The Penal Colonnade
Residents of downtown San Jose's once swanky, redevelopment-subsidized Colonnade Apartments say the place has taken a fast and serious fall.

Chainsaw Chancellor: Environmentalists are miffed at Governor-elect Gray Davis' choice of Barry Munitz to head his transitional team.

Metropolis News Extras

• San Jose: Give a gun, get a gift.
  
• Cupertino: Selling bricks for playground equipment.
  
• Los Gatos: Toll House Hotel may expand.

Dog Heaven: Willow Glen couple sets up day care for canines.

Structural Noise: Germany's industrial pioneers Einstürzende Neubauten are back with pounded mechanical percussion and moody messages.

Parker Rising: Nicky Baxter reviews Awakening, the new album by percussionist Leon Parker.

Colossal Wolves: Los Lobos roars into Fuel for benefit concert.

Canadian Rockers: Hard Core Logo follows a band's reunion and demise mockumentary style.

La Femme Anne: Anne Parillaud takes up her assassin weapons again in Raul Ruiz's Shattered Image.

Dessert Oasis: Chris Yeo's new Straits Cafe in Palo Alto promises to end meals on a sweet note.

Bargain Bites: Chile-laced kimchi and fiery Korean dishes warm up winter's chill at Myung Dong.

Grinch and Bear It: And to All a Good Night milks laughs and morals.

Square Is Beautiful: Cartoonist Alex Ross revives the moral authority of the Man of Steel.