Welcome, normally people's first post is " Hi, my name is ..., and I'm an addict" Haha, maybe that's just me..
Here's a fun program you can use with an LCD to read information from your computer and display it on the LCD, like fan speed, computer temperature and such, also RSS feeds from your favorite websites (this one:P)
This link explains how to set it up (you may need to change the pins on software or hardware side to fit your setup)
http://www.nuelectronics.com/estore/?p=9
Here's the site with extra plug-ins and such. (hasn't been updated in 3 years, but the forums are still fairly active)
By the way.. it's been a while since I've played with my HD44780 LCDs but there's a way to invert the text colors, so instead of filling up the text, it will fill up the rest of the 5x8 box and erase the letter. Second best thing to getting the negative effect I suppose, and can be done in software. 