So I just upgraded to WP 2.5. Unfortunately it looks like Theron Parlin stopped updating the Benevolence theme or just hasn’t had time to update it to 2.5. So with my complete lack of php knowledge I decided to hack around in the code. Low and behold, I’m not a complete moron and with the help of the automattic guide I got widgets working. The downside being that Benevolence renders the widgets poorly.

If for some reason google send you here because you use benevolence and you want widgets to work, here’s what you do:

1. create a functions.php file that contains the following and drop it in your benevolence directory:

<?php
if ( function_exists(‘register_sidebar’) )
register_sidebar();
?>

2. Add the following to the top of bottom of your sidebar.php. where ever you put it, that’s where the widgets will show up. Keep it withing the sidebar div tags

<?php if ( !function_exists(‘dynamic_sidebar’)
|| !dynamic_sidebar() ) : ?>
<?php endif; ?>

3. Click the new “Widgets” option in the Design tab and you can start adding widgets.

4. After that you’re on your own.

Wasn’t that fun?

My girlfriend sent me this today and if you haven’t seen all of Joss Whedon’s work you should stop reading because I’m going to spoil some shit.

Joss is really good at killing people. There’s like seven listed in that top ten that are Joss’ kills. Each one a surprise and moving when they happen. I’ll skip over the most recent (I’m a leaf on the wind) and go to some that have the spoiler statute of limitation lifted.

Buffy: They left out when they killed off Buffy and then Angel, but they came back so it didn’t count. Come to think of it, I think there was a major death each season. All of which were poignant and moving. Though some of the deaths were moving because of how people reacted to them. I don’t think I was all that broken up to see Buffy’s mom Joyce die, but the episode was focused of the responses everyone had to it. It was sudden and jarring to the characters, and we got to see that. No matter how super heroic Buffy is, she’s still human.

Another that really sticks in my mind and gets me choked up to think about is the death of Mal and Zoe’s old war comrade Tracey. His death was extra bitter since it was one of the final episodes of Firefly (I think it was the last one filmed). It wasn’t so much the way he died, but the fact that he had final words that resonated with every single person on the crew. His final words haunting, because he said them well before his real death.

I hope someday, if I ever become a good writer that I can kill with such precision and power as Joss Whedon.