Check out Boulevards' Guide to San Francisco

Cover: Sin City
Veni, Vidi, Vici... Metropolitan takes on Las Vegas.

Grass Root Politics: Smoke 'em if you got 'em? The changing politics of pot.

Job Interview: With the deft intuitive touch of a psychologist, personal trainer Jose-Luis Wilson helps you maximize your potential.

Tara's Advice: Tara solves a mystery.

Global Fashion: Viktor & Rolf are mad as hell and they're not going to wear it any more.

One Card Monte: High-Strung Out?

Turn Styles: Looking eastward, going westward.

Urban Libations: Hot grog warms up winter.

A Bronze Tale: Bottle bronzed with BeneFit.

Concrete Runway: Laura Matis at Haight and Clayton.

Style Mavens: Upgrade your style with L'anza's new 'Ctrl' line.

The Journalist and the Director: Director Chen Kaige on the art of war epics.

With a Different Meaning: A French and arty film you should see, if you like that sort of thing.

Film Picks: Reviews of 'A Map of the World,' 'The Big Tease' and the Marcello Mastroianni Retrospective.

Buy Pola: Sullivan Bianco rates the top obscure French import album of the year. And it's still only January.

Music Picks: Reviews of the latest CDs by Jesus Lizard, Sex 66 and Magnetic Fields.

Club Guide: Disco divas, hip-hop connoisseurs and salsa suaves to flannel-clad pinball players, jazz luminaries and more.

Missed Manners: Christina Waters reams the reader and sends him to bed without dinner.

Squat or Rot! 'No Trespassing' encourages squatters to help themselves to housing.

Book Picks: Reviews of 'Super Casino: Inside the 'New' Las Vegas' and 'A Love Supreme.'

Please don't forget to write! The Metropolitan welcomes letters. Like any great work of art, they should be originals--not copies of letters sent elsewhere. Include address and daytime phone (for verification purposes only). Letters may be edited for length and clarity or to correct factual inaccuracies known to us. Postal: Metropolitan Letters, 1717 17th St., San Francisco, CA 94103. Fax: 415/487-9094. Email: [email protected]. Emailers, please include name, city of residence and phone number. Letters printed will list email address unless otherwise specified. Letters to the editor are not currently published in the online version of this paper.