Prize inside

Noel gets a lot of pre-release and new-release DVDs these days because he's writing a DVD roundup column weekly for the Los Angeles Times syndicate. Some of them come in elaborate packaging designed to catch the eyes of jaded journalists, like the huge When We Left Earth box we got this week with a cardboard nosecone inside holding the DVDs.

And some come with premiums: the Gossip Girl first season ice cream scoop, the Deal green eyeshade, the Fringe voice recorder with a cryptic dictated message about paranormal phenomena.

Best of all are the children's DVDs, which not only provide our kids with hours of entertainment courtesy of Scholastic or Children's Television Workshop, but also sometimes come with a toy. Right now Cady Gray is wearing the laminated fairy wings that came with the Abby Cadabby DVD.

Noticing that her fairy role play apparently included a mandate to be beneficent -- her first fairy act was to put pretend batteries in Archer after he claimed to be broken down and in need of "reprogramming" -- I dubbed her Helpful Fairy and sent her to clean her room. She flitted off cheerful as you please, and repeated the performance when asked to clean the front room. Nothing takes the edge off of chores like a DVD freebie.