Re: A couple questions about Premiere

Don't double-click the clip. Just single-click to select it. In the "effects controls" tab you can manipulate "Video Effects", "Audio Effects" and any filters you have applied to your single selected clip.

BTW if you want to apply an effect to many clips on the timeline, select the effect(s) in the "effects controls" window, copy it (them), select all the clips you want on the timeline and paste. The effect and its settings are applied to all selected clips. This works with Motion and other basic settings as well.