Desperate Paradox, site layout mockup/idea Options

[Mikeplyts]

I'm a bit frantic now to get a new website layout for my site but lately, I've been having an inspiration block. I've pretty much been on hiatus for a while to see if any good ideas spring up, and most have, but the end result just didn't look right to me anymore or I wouldn't like it anymore. I've tried this idea, because to be honest, I love the strong, serious vibe this seems to give off. A few things still bug me like the sidebar headers, but ehh. Anyhow, I'd like to get some of your opinions on this new design.

click to enlarge

Trash or keep?

UPDATE #1: (Removed brushes. Changed up sidebar content and 'meta' header. Made a different navigation. Altered body text and links.)

click to enlarge

[fixtatik]

The clock makes for a great stand-alone design, but as part of a website template, it's awful. I've never been a fan of a header that's taller than 200 pixels. It's just pointless to go to a new page and scroll down 500-1000 pixels every time. My other gripes are with the business of the side bar (with a scroll bar, no less--scroll bars always look awful within the body of a site), and your choice of body text. It might look good in Photoshop, but once you get it on the web, Delicious makes for horrendous body text.

For the sidebar...

You're clearly trying to avoid the typical setup of some sites with the cleanliness of everything, but the way you have your sidebar organized brings it right back to that. The norm seems to be "Navigation", "Content", "Affiliates", "Statistics" or some variation of that. This design in particular, the navigation would probably look better above the content. You could even incorporate the glow of the clock on each link when you hover over them. Navigation is important, unlike the other links on your sidebar. Make it stand out, but not as much as the content. A visitor's eyes should glance past the header and navigation to the content, then back to the navigation, then to the header, as that's the least important area.

I don't understand the "meta" heading with all the login links under it. Meta data is usually information about the site, whether it be syntax or keywords, descriptions, file type, etc. The statistics area is far too big in my opinion; while it's at the bottom, it's still shouting, "Look at me!" But I don't want to look at you; I came for the content. And Myspace/Twitter aren't exactly statistical data.

The last thing is the bar you have next to each link on the sidebar. They look a bit out of place, since you already have two borders lining the content area. Slightly smaller text might be more appealing; right now it blends in too much with the content text which really makes it distracting.