Ahem.

(Mother would be so proud.)

I have joined the discussion on vital topics of the day. The nice fellow at Crossing Marketing and IT drew my wrath in a post about ditching cable to save money by getting all his media needs via the seductive teat of the Internet. As so many have pointed out throughout history, when the cost is free, you get what you pay for.

Then I took the usually incisive Bob Garfield to task for his rather blind devotion to the cult of social media. His typically amusing post about a marketing fiasco by T.G.I. Friday’s seemed to jump to a much too simple conclusion, i.e., the customer is always right, especially when said customer is online. I have a different take.

That said, I do recommend Mr. G’s book, The Chaos Scenario for its insight into the current, well, chaos. A must-read for knowledge workers and Internet drudges alike.

Now back to keeping those kids off my lawn…

It’s official: http://restoredavenuttycombe.wordpress.com/. Come on, you God-fearing and Godless bastards — how quickly can we get to a million?

Discovery folks like to call their behemoth office building the Discovery Campus. And Tuesday night the place was thumping like a Ft. Lauderdale motel during spring break. Silverdocs kicked off with the U.S. premier of the basketball doc More Than a Game. The big draw, of course, was the presence of one of the film’s subjects, LeBron James.

I missed the film. But one woman raved that it turned her into a basketball fan. I learned this at the after-party, which I did not miss.

The gala began with the Montgomery Blair High School pep band (Go Blazers!) leading everyone from the Silver Theater across Georgia Ave. to the Discovery building, which was decked out in an impressively consistent basketball theme. Free alcohol, free food, free video, live DJ. Supposedly live performances by “Interscope recording artist Wale and independent artist tabi Bonney,” but I missed that, too. Also supposedly, LeBron actually showed up, but again, I was too busy with the mini BBQ sandwiches, mini bacon cheeseburgers, mini hot dogs, and complimentary beer and martinis, the latter in groovy illuminated glasses. Which I took home in a velvet bag.

I was also busy shmoozing with the many local notables on hand. The ubiquitous Jeff Krulik was there, chatting with his good friend Dana Flor, co-director of the closing night film, The Nine Lives of Marion Barry (I’m betting there will be at least 11 on the DVD). And former Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan showed up.

Filmmaker magazine blogger Pamela Cohn called Silver Spring “the town that The Discovery Channel built,” which is not far off the mark. But much credit actually goes to Duncan, who spearheaded the $15.6 million tax deal that lured Discovery from tony Bethesda to what was then a fairly shabby suburb. I kept trying to goad Duncan into taking credit for the madness that reigned all around us—that is, I thanked him for the town’s rejuvenation. He kept shrugging me off, saying many others shared the credit. OK, fine, play coy.

This video montage reveals the shocking lengths a global corporation will go to lose money and ensure its constituents have a darn good time. Enjoy.

This is to be the registration area for Silverdocs, where attendees will pick up their passes. It used to be a storefront for Pyramid Atlantic to sell its arty tschotchkies, and apparently will be again once Silverdocs is over. But as of late afternoon Sunday, it still resembles a Tschotchky Hut more than a hip festival site. Other than some Silverdocs posters taped to the window, there’s not much in the way of happ’nin’ vibe. Perhaps the space doesn’t need to be anything more than a spot to store boxes of ID badges, but previous Silverdocs’ (Silverdocses?) paid attention to party detail. Not much time left to properly install a DJ booth, is there?

Silverdocs has always provided a “Cinema Lounge,” where all the doc wonks and hangers-on can cool out between screenings and networking. Last year, this Ellsworth Drive building was the lounge spot and it was quite handy, right across from the fountain, a quick jaunt from the Silver Theater and Discovery HQ. This year’s official watering hole has been designated to be the trendy Jackie’s Restaurant. But Jackie’s is nearly a mile north from festival central and all the locations (and competing restaurants) where film wonks will be getting their doc on.

I also recall open bar situations, which was much appreciated. Not sure how that will play out at Jackie’s. A shuttle is reputedly in the works—which will be a good thing should there be open bars. We shall see.

Local funnyman Doug Hecox entertains with selections from his latest CD, Vote For Me. This is a reminder for all registered Democrats and Republicans to ignore the tendentious claims of Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain and write in Doug’s name on your ballot come Tuesday. And if you can’t make it Tuesday, write it in on Wednesday. Because such a futile gesture will surely be appreciated by Mr. Hecox. He is, after all, from Wyoming.

If the photo (courtesy of Kelly A. Barrett) doesn’t convince you of Doug’s worthiness, then you might as well stay away from the polls or move to Russia.

A routine update went horribly, horribly wrong. We’re working on the problem. Thank you for choosing Nutco Enterprises.