tantarus !

I'm not sure wether you're comenting Sans2012 or something you've seen in my design...
On effects in general I absolutely agree with you and particulalrely so when it comes to more "hi-class" designs. I wouldn't think an AD at Elle, Cosmo or any fashion house would approve (tho, I might be wrong).
Tho, in this case it's a (fictive) DVD jacket for a thriller-something-reel so I wouldn't be surprised if given at least a bit of slack with moderate effects.
Did some "research" at my local video rental just to see what goes.
... and found some examples of really "bad cases" /LOL/.

So - yes, Sans2012 - there is an outer glow (seen better in the large image) but with a hard edge, more like an outline. This to make the typography stand out better from the darker blue tones in the background.
Sure I could have made it easy for me and used a contrasting (opposite) colour, but I thought a good part of the challange was to keep it within a cool blue(-ish) scale and allow only one eye-catching exception.

Thank you all for careing to comment ! :-)
I really appreciate it very much and I hope there will be some more opinions coming - from you or others.

(ok - I'll step down from soapbox now... )

-- Jiger --