Just got caught up on all the reading... I like the edgy idea, I can take my design and rough it up if you guys want... suggestions inspire creativity. So does good critique. I know already we need a 4th menu button, which means these big icon type buttons will shrink, they will have to in order to fit, otherwise maybe a grunge theme is in order? Perhaps spray-paint? What do you think? Getting focused in one direction would be most appealing for me(for now at least). Remember... We are running a content based site, look how RIU is formatted, simple, it works, it's solid, simplicity should be our guide for all types of inspiration. A site that is too complicated is worse than a site that is to simple.
With that being said I have heard your suggestions thus far and will attempt to implement them. I am also aware of the open source programs which you speaking about, it's just nice to have a coder who is there to fix bugs and problems that arise with them, and not have to dig through open source jargon until I find the answer. Or even worse, wait till and update is available that resolves the issue. I'll dig a big more on Joomla though, it looks solid so far.
Mad's Website(look how simple it is)
http://www.dccomics.com/mad/on_the_stands/