Meh,
A lot of knee jerk reactions in the thread which is sad. One purpose of setting a dark (no not a flashing GIF as lisi slippery-sloped me into earlier) is to give the page more of a "piece of paper" feeling. With a darker background, a crazy wide monitor the site focuses the user on the contents of the page, and on a narrower monitor it will just barely show up, or not at all.
About a year ago I developed a queryable database for biologists, and I used this method, a fixed width, and a clear 'page' to it. I think it looks good, is extremely functional, and isn't full any modern design
I was alluding to something along the lines of that website.