Hi All,
I've written an application controller that handles 99% of what I need any controller to do. I've posted it here (pastebin). Like I said, feel free to be harsh.
-update: added comments :)
Thx,
-C
P.S. I would like to say that my intention here is to overwrite methods that need different functionality in sub-classed controllers, such as the *message methods and the after* methods. The application controller will serve as a sort of abstract class. also, some of the before_filters are specific to plugins, such as tiny_mce and restful_authentication (which is awesome, imho.)