Cover Story: Game Bang
New centers zap geek solitude as gamers come out to play.

Battle Over a Bomb: Is a Pentagon push to exploit the explosive power of hafnium based on bad science?

Public Eye: Legal eagle Bradley Matteoni fights City Hall and wins.

Biter: The valley has questions--Biter has answers.

Notes From the Underbelly: Shrunken Cities of Kandor.

Techsploits: Could Tribe.net be better than Friendster?

The Prodigal Daughter: Katie Holmes is rebelling for the holidays in TV-sweet 'Pieces of April.'

Jewish Range: San Jose Jewish Film Festival showcases a wide array of features and shorts through November at Camera 3.

Ties That Bind: A loner train buff befriends emotional strays in Peter McCarthy's 'The Station Agent.'

Trash City Rockers: San Jose's Trash City Saints is part band/part mutual appreciation society.

Aural Fixation: Stuart Davis celebrates the feminine divine on 'Bell.'

A Fair and Balanced Book Review: Al Franken knows how to get under Bill O'Reilly's skin--and that's a good thing.

Steak Through the Heart: Fans of power protein have found a new reason to live--and dine and drink--at Forbes Mill Steakhouse.

Revolution Rock: Hello, God? It's Margaret Cho and she wants to change the world.

Mastering Martha: Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley revived Martha Graham's 'Appalachian Spring' with uncorrupted symbolism.

The Other 9/11: Teatro Visión finds humor in the tragedy of Chile's dark days under Pinochet in 'Chilean Holiday.'