It's the little things

One of the best things about the internet + Nice touch, Smallville= 2 lil joys   On the phone last night, my daughter mentioned one of the five books she's currently reading for pleasure. A juvie written in 1908.  Sooooo... since it was likely PD, I searched and found scads of places I could get ebook/etext versions.  Fun book:  Five Children and It  by Edith Nesbit. A tad didactic, but pleasantly told.  Much better, IMO, than the Series of Unfortunate Events tales, which palled after only a few pages.  And now I see that it's a film (upcoming release) featuring Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Izzard, Freddie Highmore, and Zoe Wannamaker.   One to watch for.   [UPDATE: I've seen a trailer for the flick.  It departs from the book on several rather major points, introduces characters and situations not in the book, etc. Nevertheless, it may still be worth a viewing. I'll probably finish the book this evening, between other more pressing tasks.]   The other lil joy: Orson Scott Card, a writer who knows how to craft good stories—sound plotting, credible characters, pace, etc.—wrote a paean extolling Smallville, so I dutifully began watching it when I had a chance.  Saw the latest tonight and it was... passable.  More teenaged sturm und drang filtered through a touchy-feely soap opera-ish hammishness than I like, but not all that bad.  The lil joy was after the show was over, the very last of the credits.  An ink bottle, apparently filled with red ink, labeled Miller Cough Ink is smashed and... a brief lil motif from Mahler's Symphony #1 tinkled past my ears!  Brought the whole darned first movement singing through my head! What a nice touch, Smallville!  Thanks!