Shyamalan rewrote the classic children's book by E.B. White, one the most respected and beloved authors in the English language. And in EBWHite's book, Stuart is NOT an orphan. He is happy and adventurous, and in his travels he charms everyone he meets with his friendly cheerful attitude and his concern for his friends. Shyamalan throws away the entire plot and recasts Stuart as a mopey little rodent looking for his real parents. Also, the book has lots of lively action for the kids while slipping in little verbal absurdities for the adult reader. Shyamalan's dark and lifeless version loses both. Get SL2, which is closer the original book.

1 part ET, 1 part Night of The Living Dead, 1 part War of the WOrlds, 1 part book of Job adds up to not very much. The shots from ET are intrusive ( the corn field, throwing the ball to the alien in the corn, kitchen knives, the little Eliot clone, the little Drew Barrymore clone, and Mel as the dithering single parent), while Living Dead was simply far more effective at trapping people in a PA farmhouse while the world goes mad (which Romero did with no budget), while War of The Worlds was far more convincing in the Earth-toxic-to-aliens scenario. Shyamalan dabbles in several genres and efforts at homage, botching them all. Shyamalan was intrusive in his cameo, the aliens were dumb (in so many senses), and in rural PA nearly every home has a hunting rifle so the invasion would have sounded like D-Day. Plus Mel SLEEPS through the invasion.

Finally, the religious angle is from the book of Hallmark. In the Old Testament, Job lost his family but kept his faith even while his neighbors told him that it must a punishment from God, until God shows up and tells them "Hey (bad stuff) happens, and I won't tell you why, but Job kept his faith so he will be restored." In Signs the scenario is totally opposite - Mel loses his wife and faith, but his neighbors support him spiritually, and not to worry because in his world (bad stuff) does not happen, and we always know God is pulling the strings for a purpose. Sorry folks, that isn't the Bible. God lets planes hit building, and he may have even let an asteroid kill the dinosaurs. People that considered this a spiritually important movie may want to check on the official beliefs of their church because they may inadvertently have been practicing the wrong religion.

An excellent book on relationships from a Freudean perspective. People without any background in the jargon will find it slow reading, but it is a lean book. For the average person, they won't benefit from it until they have been burned in relationships with people that have emotional problems, but for folks that have been around the block once or twice, much of this book will be startlingly clear. Freud is like scotch - you appreciate more as you get older. Also, this book explains why a person may have a satisfactory sex life in college during a period of rebellion, but then "settle down" to a loveless marriage with someone who will take turns acting like the guilty, pouting destructive child and the punishing, negligent parent rather than an autonomous adult.

Excellent book, author is an expert in narcissistic defenses and agression, but other personality disorders are also well covered. Kernberg deserves credit because personality disorders are difficult to describe because they are so disorganized, dishonest, and chameleon-like. The analysis of aggression in relationships is valuable for people in many fields.

Kernberg provides wonderfully candid descriptions of his own negative or inappropriate feelings towards patients, cases where pateints refuse to cooperate with treatment, and cases where these patients manage to use hospital politics (!) to thwart treatment.

My initial impression was that there seemed to be a bit too much jargon and the subsequent hair-splitting. As I read it, time and again I summarized long paragraphs by jotting down 5 to 10 words in the margin. But he does so as part of thorough overview of difficult literature, and considering the amount of ground he covers, this book could have been much longer.

Odd he doesn't mention Facism, when the description of violent narcissistic sadists who embrace tyrants is so evocative of strutting Nazis. And his final chapters on perversion versus healthy sexual function is strikingly similar to Krafft-Ebing's "An Attempt to Explain Masochism," who reached their conslusions long before Freud and developed a clearer definition of healthy functioning than Freud.

The story of Athen's struggles to become part of the tenured academic community during the drought years of the Reagan era will bring back memories for many scholars, may not be of interest to others. The format of the rest of the book is something between Krafft-Ebing and "Stiffed," with themes from both books. Rhodes flatly rejects the idea that people who have been abused, dominated, or neglected may react strongly to against other authority figures or people that remind them of a parent (displacement). This overlooks the cause of many daily conflicts. Also, it does not explain workplace shooting sprees or later domestic terrorists such as Tim McVeigh. A little less dogmatism and focus on celebrities would have made this a more convincing and enduring book. It is still very good.

Written by an industrial psychologist, it aims to resolve conflicts that arise when different personality types work together. A familiar premise, but Dr. Mann touches on the emotional needs that often drive people to counter-productive actions. There is an emphasis on intervention and counseling that would apply more to HR staff than the average manager. There is risk in encouraging the avarage manager to try these techniques, especially when the case histories often describe manager/employee relationships that have "codependent" characteristics. Handing two codependents a psych book isn't going accomplish anything.

Like "Wisconsin Death Trip," this book provides strangely familiar tales of madness, perversion, and death from the 19th century. Part of the fascination of the book is that it was written *before* Freud, and that it not biased by the views of Freud or his critics. As such, it almost reads like the dispassionate report of visitors from another planet.

Much of the subject matter is familiar grist for modern tabloids. And some of it rather amusing, especially the idea that masturbation leads to illness, insanity, and death. As in "Death Trip," this was an age when science was still groping for the causes of many types of mental illness that are still not truely cureable.

It is also interesting to compare modern standards to those of a hundred years ago. Sexual acts that were considered beyond the bounds of decency a hundred years ago even for married couples are likely to be recomended by a minister today. But many stories in which sexual acting out (infidelity, sudden change of sexual orientation) is part of a general pattern of self-destruction seem as relevant and cautionary as ever. The authors are also very matter of fact about transexuals and some very "modern" activities, which psycholanalysts seem to have given wide berth for decades. On the other hand, it isn't clear what has happened to bustle fetishists.

And before we congratulate ourselves on our sophisitication, it is also interesting that Krafft-Ebing found well established networks of dedicated pedophiles, and that a hundred years later we have not solved the problem and barely acknowledge it. Also, they were found many instances of adult female nannies and teachers molesting male children and students, which has only recently been getting much attention.

Very strong start in a familiar city of tomorrow changed by broadband communications and biotech. Interesting character development. Then it goes to a floating island and much time is spent describing its infrastructure and politics. Pretty convential techy sci-fi, minus much action. Many characters, characters lecture each other and posture.

As far as Egan the "idea man," well.....
The scenario of the butchered man revived for questioning is Alfreds Bester's The Stars My Destination.

The mob of New Agers besieging the cosmologists is Isaac Asimov's Nightfall.
And the computer that triggers the end of the universe by calculating ultimate truth is Ray Bradberry's The Nine Million Name of God.

.... All of which were better than Distress

I'd nearly forgotten these guys until I was watching the PBS "History of Rock and Roll" episode about hip-hop, and when they were asked about who influenced them, several rappers said Kraftwerk !

It sounds even better today, because they made very sparing use of their electronic toys when most pomp rockers were going down the path of wretched excess. This is the sort of music even you kids will think is pretty hip.

One lukewarm standup set, and Sam delivering several songs with a good backup group in a decent screechy-white-guy singing AD/DC style. But overall quite disappointing.