[noodle]

i think that this is a good rule of thumb, although its not exactly the universal solution:

ask open-ended questions, and latch onto any information that comes back to you in order to ask more open-ended questions.

its not exactly small-talk, but people tend to like to talk about themselves and will generally respond reasonably to doing so.

[russell]

See if there is something about the person to see if there is a nongeneric opening. If she is holding a book, ask about the book. If it's a romance novel, talk about the difference between girl books and guy books. If she is carrying a newspaper of magazine ask whats interesting today.

If these are a little difficult practice on people who dont count. By that I mean people who you dont care if you never see again. The elderly are often a bit lonely and love to chat. Or a girl you would never ask out. (You could be wrong about that.)