Cover: Silicon Follies
Move 'em on, head 'em up--Metro's annual roundup of Silicon Valley raw hide: road ragers to pompous poseurs, hideous monuments to humiliating defeats. Also: local twins separated at birth, the vanished politicians' alliance and exhibits the Tech forgot.

Vic's Songs of Bernadette: Vic Chesnutt lets some light shine on his dark, pained lyrics.

Far Out but in Touch: Nicky Baxter reviews Aquemini by Outkast--one of the year's best hip-hop drops.

Audiofile: Reviews of the latest CDs by Golden Smog and Spitkiss.

Touch of Mediocrity: Except for the revival of some notable classics, it was far from the best of years at the movies.

Alien Corn: Kevin Williamson recycles himself in The Faculty.

You Big Ape: Top banana trumps leading lady in Mighty Joe Young.

Icing on the Cake: Christina Waters looks back on the peak culinary experiences of 1998.

The City of Angles: No matter how you look at it, Mike Davis says in Ecology of Fear, L.A. is in trouble.