Steven, thanks for the note. And please know that I appreciated your response and suggestions... it's actually how I ended up managing my last project. Also, the response you quoted wasn't directed at you - even though I understand it could easily seem like it was.
I was just making a point of something I've seen throughout these forums. Someone can ask a question as justified as "Why is there no way to feather a crop in PP?" and I see people responding to him like it's normal to be simply putting up with making a duplicated-shot-alpha-channeled-inverted-eight-point-garbage-matte (with the blend mode set to multiply) layered on top of the original shot with the opacities adjusted to match minus 10% and the "duplicate edge pixels" box checked. And don't even get me started if you want to put a simple vingnette on top of that... get ready to open the Title Tool. (Huh?)
Honestly, nobody in these forums has been anything but super cool and insanely helpful. And I really appreciate it. I hope it didn't come across like I was criticizing you, that wasn't the intent.