We have been exploring routes and systems alternative to the oxocuprates and the oxomanganates and searched for superconductivity and large magnetoresistance in rare earth compounds, particularly, in the family of layered metallic rare earth halides and rare earth carbides. Here we review the superconducting properties of YC2, La2C3, and RE2C2X2 (RE = Y, La; X = Cl, Br, I) as well as some recent results of the large magnetoresistance effect in the ferromagnet GdI2. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.